Back To The Future
by amyduckpond
Summary: The worst thing Harmony could ever imagine has happened -her mother is dating Finn Hudson and her parents have recently gotten divorced. Can going to the past fix things in the future? AU Harmony as the St. Berry baby
1. Chapter 1

**AN: okay so everyone's really excited about the whole 'back to the future type thing and I thought I'd go along with it :)**

**Anyway just as a warning the beginning will contain finchel but none of it will be cute considering how much I despise the ship. Alright I hope y'all like it **

Harmony walked into the kitchen of her family's penthouse, glaring at the dark haired man sitting in the living room watching football. _Football _of all things. The fact he was even here made her angry. Sitting in _their _house. He just didn't belong.

"Finn shouldn't you be out getting a _real _job?" She said bitterly.

The man turned around, "Harmony I told you, I applied for a job. I'm waiting for their reply soon."

She rolled her eyes getting out a bottle of water from the fridge, "You know dad's in a play right now. He actually has an occupation instead of living off his successful girlfriend." Harmony spat out the last word. She hated picturing her mother dating Finn.

Finn sighed, "Harmony I know you miss your father-"

"Don't talk about him! You aren't allowed to talk about him! He should be here not you!" Harmony couldn't even begin to understand why her mother would leave her dad. They were practically soul mates.

The man in the other room looked at her over the bar separating the kitchen from the living room, "Look your mother and I love each other, we have since sophomore year."

Harmony laughed bitterly at him trying to defend himself, "actually you broke her heart, um how many times was it?" She ran into to her room slamming the door.

The brunette wasn't sure how long she was in her room listening to Adele and trying not to cry. There was a light knock on her door which she assumed was Finn, "Go away." The door opened to reveal her mother with two mugs.

"Hey sweetie, Finn said that you were yelling earlier and I don't want you injuring your vocal chords so I made tea."

After graduating from McKinley Rachel Berry had gone to NYADA, as planned. During her first premiere on Broadway the lead opposite she happened to be Jesse St. James. Although she told herself she wasn't going to, Rachel had fallen for Jesse all over again. The both of them soon got married and ended up having a baby girl, Harmony.

Rachel made her way over to Harmony's bed and handed her one of the mugs. "Can't you try to like Finn? Please?"

The smaller brunette sighed, "No mom, I can't. He isn't dad, and I don't understand why you're dating that loser."

The mother laughed softly, "You certainly are your father's daughter."

Harmony took a sip of her tea and looked at her mother seriously, "Why did you and daddy have to get a divorce?"

Rachel sighed and looked at her drink, "Harmony, the both of us got so busy. We barely saw each other because we were both at rehearsals all the time."

Her daughter bit back tears, "But that's why the two of you were so perfect! You understood each other! Why would you rather have some idiot who doesn't even have a job be with you? Sure he'll be here, but he's living off you!"

The older woman spoke quietly, "Finn is a very good guy. Had I not inspired him to come to New York after graduation he wouldn't be here. We inspire each other."

Harmony shook her head and laughed bitterly, "You don't inspire each other, that's what you and dad did!" She suddenly processed what her mother had said, "Wait so, you don't think Finn would be here if you had broke up your senior year?" The girl's thoughts drifted to her friend who had stated she had created a time machine. Harmony had laughed off the thought, but she was desperate.

Rachel shrugged, "I guess not… Finn never seemed to think he would make it in New York had I not pushed him to come."

Harmony took in what her mother had said and smiled almost mischievously but soon made it look innocent, "Mom can I spend the night at Sugar's? She invited me over and I completely forgot to ask."

Her mother nodded her head smiling, "Sure, sweetie. Have fun."

The younger girl hugged her mother and grabbed a few items she would take with her. Assuming the time machine worked, she was going to need essentials. Harmony ran downstairs and out the door not even acknowledging Finn's existence. Climbing into a taxi she took out her phone to text Sugar.

_Hey Sug, I really need a favor.._

_**Need voice lessons? I understand if you need some help from me**_

Harmony laughed at her friend's text. That was Sugar for you.

_No, actually. I need you to start up that time machine of yours._

_**Totally! Uncle Blaine and mom were just fixing some of the glitches yesterday so it should be working. Rory and I were about to go but we can wait for you, girl.**_

_Okay I'm almost there._

Just as the text finished sending the cab pulled up to a small house. Harmony paid the driver and walked up the few steps to the porch. She had been here about a million times seeing as how Sugar was her best friend. Before she could even knock on the door it opened revealing Sugar in a leather skirt with a white button up shirt and a scarf.

Harmony laughed seeing her friend, "You know we're not going back to the seventies, right? You look like you just walked out of Grease!"

Sugar rolled her eyes, "Well duh! But mom told me that this was the fashion when she was at McKinley."

The brunette giggled at her friend's response and looked around, "Where's Rory?"

Sugar smiled, "Why so you can go make out again?"

Harmony suddenly turned a bright shade of pink, "We have never made out, and you said he was going with us so I assumed he'd be here."

The blond took her friend's hand and began leading her to the back yard where this contraption was, "Yeah he's just checking it out before we go."

As the girls walking out of the backdoor of the house Rory looked up smiling at them. "Looks all set. I think we're ready."

Harmony examined the car, "and you're sure it's safe?"

Sugar rolled her eyes, "Just get in loser, we're saving our parent's marriages."


	2. Chapter 2

**AN: okay so 2 reviews and some story alerts/favorites made me jump around out of happiness :) all of them rock my world!**

**Anyway I promise Jesse will come soon, but Harmony does have to get settled in Lima before she can begin the plan. Enjoy and please review!**

With a loud crash, the car and three teenagers in it landed in the parking lot of McKinley high school. It was pretty dark outside and the school was deserted, leading Harmony to assume it must be pretty late. She looked at her two friends worriedly, "Did it just break?"

Sugar examined the car, "I don't think so. Told you I was I good driver."

The brunette laughed and rolled her eyes, "Hey, Rory, are you okay?"

Rory stepped out of the car dizzily, "I'm driving next time…"

Harmony clapped her hands together eager to begin fixing the future, or rather her present. "So how are we doing this?"

The two teenagers across from her exchanged a glance. The blonde spoke first, "Harmony we didn't know you'd come with us... Rory is staying with mom and I'm staying with her aunt's old friend from college. We didn't work out a plan for you…" Rory and the girl next to him looked down at their feet, feeling guilty about not making plans for their friend.

Harmony tried to cover the hurt on her face, "Oh okay… I'll work something out."

It was Rory's turn to speak, "Harmony I'm really sorry. We should've thought about it…"

She shook her head and smiled, "No, it's okay. Sugar, do you think I could stay at your place for the night so I can find a place to take me?"

Sugar smiled mischievously, "Sure, I'll sneak you in."

Harmony walked into the halls of McKinley, following Sugar. The two of her friends had already signed up for school, but due to their lack of knowledge that she would be accompanying them, Harmony was not. She hoped that there was a way to get into the school even though it was after registration. What the brunette saw made her stop in the middle of the busy hallway. It was her mother. Of course, she wasn't her mother yet –they had a while until that happened, but it was her. Then a taller person began walking next to Rachel. Harmony sighed angrily realizing it was Finn. She quickly began to follow the pair, just close enough to hear them but far enough away to not get caught.

"_Finn, don't you realize we're seniors? This is our last chance to do everything it takes to look good on college apps!"_

"_Rachel, don't worry. I've got my football career. We're all set."_

Harmony noticed her mother's anger begin bubbling inside her. The same anger she had seen when her mother paid a visit to the casting director at her high school that didn't give her the lead in the musical.

"_**We **__are not set, you are! Football is your thing! What about NYADA? I have to go to New York! It's my only chance to finally meet Barbra and be on Broadway!"_

_The man walking next to Rachel shrugged, "But if you stay in Lima we can spend more time together, I thought you'd like that idea..."_

_The brunette sighed, "As much as I love spending time with you, that isn't my dream Finn. I don't understand why you can't see that."_

Just then Harmony was pushed to the side by some jock who clearly had more important things to do. She rolled her eyes and found her way to the principal's office, figuring her mother was probably in class by now anyway.

"Excuse me, are you Mr. Figgins?"

The Indian man across her nodded suspiciously, "Yes and you are?"

Harmony put on a bright smile much like her mother's and stuck out her hand, "Oh excuse me! I'm Harmony St.-"

For a brief moment there was a hesitation she hopped the principal wouldn't catch. It probably wasn't a good idea to mention her last name was St. James.

"-Claire"

She put on her best smile, trying to hide the fact she had completely come up with the last name she had used. The principal smiled much to Harmony's delight.

"What can I do for you, Miss St. Claire?

Harmony sat down in the chair across from the man, "Well I was hoping to join your school. I realize it's a little late for registration, but my parents and I just moved here and they want me in school as soon as possible." She was feeling proud of herself for her quick thinking. It was something she couldn't wait to tell her parents, until she suddenly remembered the reason she had to think like this.

Principal Figgins smiled sympathetically, "I'm very sorry Miss St. Claire, but I'm afraid our school is very full at the moment, maybe if I met with your parent's we could try to fit you in…"

The brunette sighed, "Oh my parents are very busy; that's why they sent me here by myself."

The Indian man shrugged, "Then I'm very sorry, but can I recommend the boarding school in Defiance? It's very close to here and they sometimes take late registrations. I believe it's called The Smithsonian Academy of Music and Fine Arts…"

Harmony nodded, "I'll look at it then… Sorry for wasting your time Mr. Figgins…"

He shrugged her off going back to his game of Angry Birds. She could tell he was playing based on the various beeps and rings she kept hearing. The brunette walked out of the Principal's office into the empty hallway. She realized there was something she had to do before she left: see her mother perform. Harmony walked around until she found the theater. Inside she saw her mother performing The Wizard and I.

The girl laughed softly, _if she only knew she'd be performing this at the Gershwin a few years later. _She quietly took a seat in the back, hoping none of the glee club members would notice her. Harmony soon felt a wetness on her cheeks and left as soon as her mother took her bow. She had seen her mother perform before on Broadway a million times, but it was so raw now. Rachel hadn't become famous yet. Not that fame had changed her, but seeing it for the very first time was so moving to Harmony.

Once she was out of the school, Harmony took out her phone and called 411 to get the number for the school Mr. Figgins had mentioned. She was greeted by a cheerful woman, clearly hyped up on way too much coffee.

"_**This is The Smithsonian Academy of Music and Fine Arts, how can I help you?"**_

Harmony put on a cheery tone to match the one she was talking to.

"_Hi, my name is Harmony St. Claire. I was wondering if I could meet with the principal about joining the school. I realize it's past registration, but I'm new to town and your school seemed like the perfect fit for me."_

"_**Oh sweetie you're in luck! Unfortunately one of our students families had to relocate meaning we have an available spot. Of course, you'll have to audition with a monologue and a song."**_

"_What day would be best for me to come audition? I can come in today even." _Harmony suddenly realized how desperate she sounded, but she needed to begin working on her plan.

"_**Hold on a moment, let me ask the principal."**_

Harmony tried to calm down, but she was simply too excited and nervous.

"_**Well he certainly admired your eagerness to join the school. You're welcome to audition for the school at 4 o'clock. I look forward to seeing you, Miss St. Claire."**_

Harmony smiled and jumped in the air.

"_Thank you so much! I'll be there at 4."_

Both women hung up and Harmony danced a little out of excitement. She was glad her father had given her his credit card for emergencies. Harmony assumed it should work since he should still have the same bank account. She held onto her star necklace for a moment and sighed. Her plan _had _to work.__Clearly Finn and her mother were already having problems, even if Finn didn't seem to catch onto them, which meant that her job shouldn't be too hard.

After a quick trip to the mall and the credit card working, Harmony was standing at the door of The Smithsonian Music and Fine Arts school. She had gotten a new dress to help with the appearance factor, knowing that would help. Making her way to what looked like an office she walked in looking at a desk with a small blonde woman behind it.

Harmony smiled widely, "Hi! I'm Harmony; I believe we spoke earlier over the phone…"

The blonde looked up and smiled, "Oh of course, the eager beaver herself! You're wanted in the theater for your audition. It's down the hall and to the left."

She nodded, "Thanks again!" With that, Harmony walked to where the theater was breathing in heavily before opening the door.

A tall lanky guy sharing the hallway with her gave her a smile, "Auditioning?"

Harmony gave a nervous nod, putting on her best show-face.

"Mine was stressful, too. Don't worry though, it isn't as bad as it seems. Assuming you're good, but you wouldn't be auditioning if you weren't." He looked at her for a moment, "Plus, you look stunning, so even if you aren't great the school could use you."

The brunette smiled, "Thank you…"

"Brad."

Harmony brightened her smile, "Brad." She sighed and walked into the theater.

Immediately she was greeted by a loud voice, she assumed belonged to the principal. "Miss St. Claire! Nice to meet you, I'm looking forward to your audition."

She smiled widely, "I'm looking forward to auditioning! Do you want me to get on stage and begin or are there any questions you have?" Harmony was trying to be as polite as possible. This school was her best chance at reconnecting her parents.

After answering a few questions for the principal she soon learned was Mr. Allen, she got on stage to perform her monologue and song. Beginning with her monologue from RENT as Maureen, she soon spoke to the small band waiting on stage for this moment. Harmony took a deep breath and soon sang the opening line.

_Something has changed within me…_

Once finishing her song Harmony bowed slightly and smiled. She wished her mother could have heard her. She would have been so proud.

Mr. Allen began clapping until he realized that he shouldn't be giving away how badly he wanted this girl at his school. "Thank you Miss St. Claire, we'll be sure to contact you within the next few days on our decision."

Harmony nodded, "Thank you, Mr. Allen." She made her way out of the theater, running into the boy from earlier, "Oh hi again!"

Brad smiled, "Oh, new girl! How did it go?"

She shrugged, "I'm not sure, but he was clapping when I finished Defying Gravity…"

The boy put his hands on her shoulders not even bothering to hide his excitement for her, "First of all the fact that you sang a song from Wicked makes you my hero, second of all the fact that he was clapping is phenomenal since he technically isn't supposed to."

Harmony smiled, "So am I in?"

Brad nodded, "I can guarantee it, but they probably won't tell you at least until tomorrow so that they can 'give other kids a chance'."

She clapped excitedly, "I cannot wait until tomorrow!"

Suddenly the bell rang and her new acquaintance waved goodbye, "I better get to class… see you soon, new girl!"

Harmony practically ran outside the school. She couldn't wait to tell Sugar and Rory the news. Phase one of operation: reconnect the epic romance was in gear.


	3. Chapter 3

**AN: okay so I haven't gotten anyone to beta this for me because I feel like I bother them too much.. Anyway I don't think there's any mistakes in here but if there is PLEASE tell me :) So enjoy le chapter! **

**Also Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukah, Happy Kwanzaa, whatever you celebrate hope it was wonderful :)**

The past few days had gone by quickly for Harmony. After much scheming and forging her parents signatures, she had managed to get into the school without her parent's ever actually being there. She had spoken to Sugar and Rory about how she was having to go to a different school, and also assured them this wasn't going to ruin her plan. They all wanted to get back home as quickly as possible and Harmony wasn't going to be the reason they had to stay later than planned.

Walking into her dorm room she was relieved again at the fact she didn't have a roommate. The person whose spot she had taken was male, and the school wasn't going to give her a roommate of the opposing sex. Harmony had gotten out her laptop to skype her friends once more before going to bed and, in the morning, start her first day of school.

"Hey guys, how's McKinley?" Harmony asked curiously.

Rory was the first to begin speaking, "It's actually going really well. I wish you could be here Harmony."

The girl smiled softly, "I wish I could be too, but I'll be fine here."

The boy returned her smile, "I know, but I miss you."

Suddenly the third teen on the call cleared her throat, "Now if you two are done flirting, I think we should get back to the matter at hand."

Harmony's cheeks immediately reddened along with Rory's at their friend's observation. Neither of them were doing it intentionally, and Harmony didn't even think they were at all. Sugar knew the both of them liked each other though and took it upon herself to push them together.

The blonde continued with her rant, "Mr. Schuester doesn't appreciate my talent. I sing better than anyone in that club and he has the nerve to not let me in."

The brunette rolled her eyes ignoring the insult her friend had not knowingly cast on her mother.

Sugar glared at Harmony through her computer screen, "Hey this is important! Other than the fact the man is obviously deaf, how am I supposed to start working on the plan if I can't get in the club."

Rory decided it was time to interject, "Sugar you'll think of something, Harmony stop rolling your eyes."

Both girls stuck out their tongues at their computer screens followed by laughter from the three.

Harmony smiled, "I miss you guys. We'll have to connect up after a few days to see how much longer it'll be until we can get home."

The other two teens smiled, "We miss you too."

The three of them hung up and Harmony went to shower and get ready for her first day tomorrow. Somehow she was going to have to fix her parent's relationship with her mother going to a completely different school and her father possibly being in another state. Harmony and her dad never discussed much other than his time with Rachel. Whatever he did in-between the New York incident and their first show together, she didn't know about.

So far, Harmony's first day had been going well. She had all her normal classes such as math, science, English, and history so far. After lunch she would have a study hall meaning her plan could finally begin, or the planning of the plan, anyway. That was when Harmony suddenly remembered she had to go to lunch yet knew no one. She sighed, _great. _

Walking into the cafeteria Harmony was prepared to simply walk in, get food, and eat in her dorm room until someone she recognized came up to talk to her.

"New girl! I told you you'd get in."

Her smile brightened at the familiar face, "Brad! Yes you did, and I absolutely love it here, although I have yet to meet people." Harmony's expression saddened a bit at the realization.

Noticing her change of attitude, Brad smiled, "Why don't you sit with me and the rest of the unitards?"

Harmony looked at her new friend with an expression of utter confusion on her face, "The _what?"_

The blond laughed, "Have you not heard of the glee club here?"

Her eyes widened at the mention of a glee club, "You have a glee club here?"

She received more laughter in response, "You go to a boarding school particularly for the arts and didn't think they'd have a glee club?"

Harmony shrugged and followed Brad to a table with a group of people she was assuming were the unitards. Immediately they all smiled, which she returned happily. It was nice seeing some friendly faces around here other than those of Rory and Sugar.

Brad was the first to begin speaking, "Everyone, this is Harmony, she's new and a fabulous singer. Harmony this is everyone, I'll let them introduce themselves."

Harmony waved a little and smiled, "Hey."

She sat down and immediately each one began telling her their names and soon conversation was on normal things such as their classes, and turned into a debate between one of the guys, Jack and an asian girl, Alice, over who was a better Elphaba –Idina Menzel or Jackie Burns. It took all of Harmony's strength to not say her mother was the best Elphaba so far, but considering that hadn't happened yet she sat back and watched the other two argue.

After lunch Brad turned to Harmony, "Do you have a class next?"

She shook her head at his question, "why?"

He smiled, "Well we have glee now, and I'm more than certain you'll get in. Why don't you join us?"

Harmony smiled eagerly, "Really?" She threw her arms around Brad excitedly, "I would love to!"

The boy nodded with a slight smile, "I thought so."

After grabbing her books she followed Brad into the choir room and stopped in her tracks seeing the man in the choir room looking at new sheet music. Recovering quickly she walked up to the man looking back to see a reassuring smile from nearly everyone that was in the room. Harmony was glad they had all come to like her.

Walking up to their choir director she cleared her throat and smiled, "um excuse me, my name is Harmony St. Claire, I was wondering if I could join your glee club."

The familiar face smiled at Harmony, although he had never seen her before.

"The question is –are you good enough for my club? Other than its unfortunate title, which I did not come up with, I take it very seriously coming from such a competitive one myself."

Before she even realized it the words were slipping, "Oh I know."

A few looks behind her were of confusion, but the one directly in front of her was more filled with curiosity.

"You do?"

She put on her most charming smile, "Of course! I take show choir quite seriously myself, and would know a champion when I see one. Jesse St. James, if I'm not mistaken. Although seeing as how you're my teacher it's probably Mr. St. James."

Much to her delight, she received a smile of respect from her father, "Well good to know someone's as devoted to show choir as I am. However I happened to notice that you speak as if I _will _be yourteacher. I don't recall letting you into this club."

Harmony knew that Jesse appreciated an ego as large as his could be, "Oh but you will."

There were looks of admiration around the choir room. They were astounded yet admired the way she spoke to their choir director. Harmony seemed to have the guts many of them were lacking.

Her father raised an eyebrow, "Well then by all means Miss St. Claire, go ahead with your audition."

Harmony quickly ran through song titles in her head, trying to think of one that would remind her father of her mother. It seemed like step one was coming at her, rather than her planning it. Suddenly she remembered her parents talking about the first time they had seen each other. Her father speaking with such love for Rachel talked about seeing her perform Don't Rain on My Parade. Harmony knew in her teacher's eyes she wouldn't compare to Rachel, but she was determined to be good and get him thinking of her mother.

She smiled at the glee club in front of her and gave a quick look at her soon to be teacher and father. "For my audition, I'll be singing a number from the queen herself, Ms. Barbra Streisand."

Pulling up the background music on her iPod, she plugged it in and began singing just as her mother had raised her to.

Throughout the song Jesse couldn't keep the thoughts of Rachel out of his head. This Harmony girl was almost as good as her, and something about her personality reminded him of his own. Thoughts of the past year had gone by.

After coming back from UCLA to apologize to Rachel, who had ended up breaking his heart and leaving him for Finn Hudson, he knew he should be in New York auditioning for anything and everything. Something wouldn't let him, though. It was that part of him that would always be in love with Rachel.

Once deciding he couldn't stay in New York, at least until Rachel graduated, Jesse realized the next best thing would be to be somewhat near her. Being a choir director now, he would be able to see her performing at sectionals or regionals, and have a legitimate reason. Jesse hated himself for sounding like such a stalker, but he knew that when Hudson broke Rachel's heart _again_ Jesse would be there to pick up the pieces.

Lost in his train of thoughts he didn't realize everyone in the room staring at him.

Harmony was trying to conceal her excitement. She had completely aced the song, and her father looked deep in thought meaning that Harmony had most likely succeeded in getting his thoughts going about her mother.

"So when's my first solo?" She asked jokingly, even though Harmony fully expected many of them in time to come.

The older man smiled, "You should know that I do auditions for solos and I hope to be seeing you at all of them."

Harmony couldn't help her smile, "So I'm in?"

Jesse laughed, "I thought you had already stated you were in before you sang."

She went to sit in between Brad and Alice, smiling. Her dad being here would make this go much easier than originally planned.

After going over possible songs for sectionals, the bell rang and everyone cleared out, except for Harmony.

"Sir, I hope it's not to personal but may I ask why you're here?"

The question took the older man by surprise, "Normally I would say yes but I'm too intrigued. Also you remind me a lot of myself."

She held back a laugh about the irony of his second statement. "I'm going to take that as a compliment. And I don't mean it in any offense, but Mr. St. James vocal adrenaline one four national titles and you're still in Ohio? I imagined you'd be in New York or something. I mean, I would."

Jesse nodded, "I guess you could say my muse stayed in Ohio, so I had to also. I do plan on taking over Broadway someday soon, though."

Harmony knew what her father meant about his muse, but unfortunately couldn't tell him of their future. _Well until the divorce, anyway. _After thinking about it more, she realized if Finn had never visited her mother while Jesse was at rehearsals, her parents most likely would have resolved everything and there wouldn't have been a divorce at all. It was one of the many reasons she hated Finn Hudson almost as much as her father did.

She knew it would hurt him, but Harmony had to act like she had no idea of his situation with his 'muse', "oh how romantic! So you stayed with her?"

Her teacher had never talked about his situation with Rachel aloud before. All rational thoughts that his personal life shouldn't be shared with a student were gone. He shifted uncomfortably, "Well the two of us aren't exactly together."

Harmony's expression saddened, it killed her knowing her parents went through a time like this. "What happened?"

Jesse smiled slightly, "You know I really shouldn't be telling you everything about my personal life, and you shouldn't be asking. But to put it simply we broke each other's hearts, I did something I regret every day, then when I came back to apologize everything went swimmingly. That is until she decided to break my heart with 'the kiss that missed'."

Suddenly realizing he had told her about who it was he pointed at her, "You cannot tell anyone about that or else I will personally have you removed from this glee club since I cannot get you expelled from school. Plus I doubt they'd want you out considering that talent of yours."

Harmony gathered her books into her messenger bag and stood up. "It was my fault anyway, I kept asking questions. Turns out I'm a bit nosy. But Mr. St. James, if I could over-step one more time? You should really call her. I know she broke your heart, but obviously if you stayed here you still care about her." She shrugged, "What's the worst that could happen?"

Harmony walked out the door speaking over her shoulder, "Have a nice day Mr. St. James, see you tomorrow!"

Jesse sat in his seat quietly after his student left. He couldn't help but wonder if she was right. Every ounce of him wanted to call Rachel, but she had obviously made her decision. He got out his phone and dialed the number. His finger hovered over the _send _button for what seemed like an eternity before closing it and leaving his room. _Maybe later, _he thought, _but I'm not ready to make a complete fool out of myself yet._

Harmony couldn't wait to tell her friends the news. She opened skype quickly and as soon as both people answered she yelled at her computer screen, "Dad's glee club director!"

Rory and Sugar both looked at her with expressions of disbelief.

Noticing their faces she continued, "He was just sitting there! I asked if I could audition so I sang the song mom had been singing the first time he saw her. After the rest of glee club I went to talk to him and it was a little personal but as I was hoping, he was too into his thoughts about mom that he just spilled everything! He misses her so much, and I'm sure mom misses him too based off the conversation I heard between her and Finn. But I told him to call her and I think he really considered it! I don't know if he did or not but guys this is fantastic!"

Sugar smiled, "hold on! You're talking so fast I can't understand you!"

Harmony shrugged with a slight smile, "Sorry I'm just excited."

Rory laughed, "I can tell. But by the way Harmony you have to start calling them Jesse and Rachel instead of mom and dad or you're going to slip up around people you can't afford to."

She nodded, "I know, I just can't help myself. I guess I need to work on that though."

After the three discussed more about things at McKinley and how things were going with their parents, Harmony decided she needed to work on how she would get a chance to meet her mother. She quickly said goodbye to her friends and began her new scheme.

***cough* **_**Reviews make my day**_** *cough***


	4. Chapter 4

**AN: I actually don't have much to say other than I hope you like the chapter and a shout out to my lovely friend Cami for being the most wonderful beta**

* * *

><p>Harmony walked into glee club more excited than she could ever remember being.<p>

"Mr. St. James, if you don't mind I have the most perfect idea for a mash-up and I was thinking it could get our ideas flowing for sectionals."

Jesse, along with the rest of The Unitards raised their eyebrows.

"And what would that be Miss St. Claire?"

She smiled and addressed her fellow glee club members, "Well assuming you're all educated in musical theater, this contains songs from Anything Goes and Annie Get Your Gun. It's a mixture of Anything Goes and Anything You Can Do."

Everyone in the room nodded their heads in approval. Sarah, a small redhead sitting in the front, was the first to respond to the idea, "Are we doing choreography for the number? If it isn't for sectionals I'm not sure why we would, but I'd love to help if we do."

Harmony had learned that Sarah was attending the school for dance, but also loved to sing. Apparently she had come up with most of the choreography for The Unitards past competitions.

All the students looked at Jesse questioningly. Their teacher shrugged, "If you all would like to. Maybe we could perform it and you all can show off your stuff to some of the competition. Never hurts to psych people out."

Canada, another male from the group raised his hand, "Actually there's a place for NYADA applicants and we could perform it there, maybe get some advice from other people auditioning."

The rest of The Unitards smiled and began murmuring to each other about the idea. All of them had their sights set on going to that college.

Harmony remembered that school being her mother's top choice for college, which, not-surprisingly, she had gotten into. That being said, Rachel had to be there. It seemed that her plan was coming at her, rather than her having to plan it. She only hoped things were going this easy for her friends.

"Great! Okay I've started working on it, but it's not quite finished…" The rest of glee club was spent by half the club helping Harmony with the song and the other half working on the choreography.

* * *

><p>During her last study hall Harmony decided to take a trip over to McKinley to see how things were going. She saw her father every day now, but none of her plan would work without her mother. Harmony had to make sure that Rachel would be attending the application process that night, or else everything would be ruined.<p>

She quickly sent a text to Rory informing him she'd be visiting.

_Hey Rory, I'm coming to McKinley think you can sneak me in?_

_**I don't know... I've never been good at the whole 'sneaking around thing'**_

_I was kidding; I'll just say that I'm Sugar's cousin or something._

_**But haven't you met with Principal Figgins?**_

_Shit… I'll just avoid him. But he didn't seem that smart anyway, he's probably forgotten who I am._

_**As long as you know what you're doing**_

_Don't I always?_

Once she arrived at the school, Harmony immediately found herself walking towards the theater. She loved the place, and figured if she was looking for her mother this would be where she would have the best luck. Taking a spot in the back she noticed her godfather talking to her mom. It was too quiet for her to hear but suddenly the music started and a smile formed on Harmony's face.

They were singing Ding Dong the Witch is Dead flawlessly. She didn't realize how much of an obsession Rachel seemed to have with the Land of Oz, but it must have helped her mother land the role of Elphaba. She moved a bit closer to hear their conversation, still avoiding getting too close so they wouldn't see her. The two teenagers sat down on the stage and somehow Harmony managed to catch their conversation.

"_Kurt, we are going to kill the NYADA audition on Friday!"_

"_I know. We'll be in New York in no time."_

_Rachel sighed, "I just wish Finn was open to New York as we are."_

"_You honestly think Finn would want to be in New York? Rachel, Broadway is our dream, not his."_

"_I know, but there's stuff in New York he could do. Maybe he could be a football coach at some school there…"_

_Kurt put his hand over Rachel's, "What's the real problem?"_

_Rachel looked away, not wanting to meet her friend's gaze, "He's so eager to throw my dreams away. Finn thinks that I love him more than my dreams. Believe me; I do love Finn but not as much as Broadway. I just wish he could see that."_

Harmony wasn't sure whether or not to be angry or happy. On one hand, she learned how much trouble her mother was having with Finn, which was making this even easier. However, she had also just stated her love for the man. Clearly that wouldn't last forever, hence Harmony's existence, but it wasn't going to make her life easier. She continued to listen to the two friend's conversation.

"_Honey, I know my step-brother and sadly I don't think that's happening anytime soon. He's always going to think you're putting the relationship first."_

_Rachel's voice came out as a shriek. She wasn't sure if she was about to starting crying or yell out of anger. "But he always puts football first! Our relationship comes second to him, why can't it for me?" _

_Kurt shrugged, "I'm sorry Rachel. I know you said you love him but, are you sure about that?"_

_The brunette looked at her friend defensively, "Of course I do! I have since sophomore year! Well there was that time with…" She couldn't find herself to say his name. It just hurt too much._

"_Do you still have feelings for-"_

"_NO!" Rachel hadn't even admitted it to herself she might still contain feelings for Jesse, she certainly wasn't about to admit it to Kurt, the guy whose step-brother she was dating. _

_Her friend spoke softly and stood up, "Okay…sorry I asked. Anyway the bell's about to ring and Blaine's supposed to meet me for lunch." _

_Rachel remained sitting, still consumed in her thoughts. "I'm sorry, Kurt. I didn't mean to snap." She smiled softly, "Have fun with Blaine."_

Harmony sat in her seat, worried that if she moved her mother would hear her. She cringed when there was a vibration coming from her purse, but breathed a sigh of relief when Rachel didn't notice it. Harmony smiled at who it was from.

_**Where are you? I thought you were coming**_

_Got side tracked watching your dad and my mom sing_

_**Wait I missed it? Tell me next time!**_

_No! You get to see them sing all the time! I never do._

_**I guess you have a point… Did you figure out whatever you needed to? I figured that's why you came.**_

_I did actually! I'm finally getting mom and dad together on Friday and best of all she's having relationship troubles. How are things going with your dads?_

_**Good so far… Sebastian hasn't shown up yet so dad and dad are still acting like an old married couple. I don't know if I should be happy or sick**_

_Oh shut up! Kurt and Blaine are the cutest couple ever! Other than mom and dad of course.._

_**Oh of course. I don't understand how you find your parents relationship so cute, I think it's weird seeing mine so ..close**_

_You're just grossed out that they're your parents, even if they are cute. Anyway, where are you? I was hoping we could hang out before school got out._

_**Actually I just left… :( Brittany said we had to leave right after school because Lord Tubbington is reading her diary and she has to catch him in the act. **_

_Who's Lord Tubbington?_

_**Her cat**_

_Her cat? _

_**Yeah her cat..**_

_is reading her diary?_

_**It's Mrs. Pierce, remember? **_

_Oh yeah... The whole parents as teenagers thing is confusing me_

_**You're telling me.**_

_I gotta go. The Unitards have practice and I'm still at McKinley_

_**Wait you have practice? But you're out of school!**_

_My coach used to be in Vocal Adrenaline, of course we have practice. But call me soon so I can see you in person… I miss you and Sugar_

_**Oh okay. I miss you too. **_

Harmony held her phone and smiled. She couldn't remember a time when she didn't have a crush on Rory. His parents being her godparents, they hung out as kids all the time and it didn't take long for her to fall for him.

She noticed that while she had been texting Rory, Rachel had left. Leaving quietly Harmony made her way to the parking lot and called a cab to take her to her school and current home.

* * *

><p>The week had gone by unbelievably slow. Harmony was so excited for Friday she could barely contain herself. Before going to the hotel Jesse had informed them that he would be late. All of them were slightly disappointed, but the feeling soon left once they reached the hotel.<p>

Harmony took over the role of a leader, giving them a small pep talk before they preformed for anyone.

"Okay guys, _very _important people are going to be watching us. They won't be the ones accepting us in the college, but they will be our competition at sectionals and we need to show them that we're completely ready and that they should be scared."

Alice looked at her slightly amused, "Are you sure you aren't related to Mr. St. James? You sound just like him."

Harmony smiled and shrugged, "Must be the St. part of our names." She was thrilled that people noticed the relation between them.

She clapped her hands together, "Okay let's practice!"

* * *

><p>Once everyone was in their positions, Harmony saw the two people she had been waiting for. She ran up to them quickly along with Gavroche, Pendleton, and Canada.<p>

"Hi, I'm Harmony St. Claire!" Remembering she wasn't supposed to know who these two people were she continued, "What's your name, where are you from, and what are your credentials?"

After everyone was done introducing themselves Harmony ran happily on stage to begin her number. This was her chance to impress her mother, and see what she really thought. Since Rachel was her mother all she ever got was praise, but Harmony always wondered if that was just because she was her mother. Now it was her chance to see what Rachel thought as a fellow competitor.

Halfway through the number Harmony noticed her father walk in. She did an awful job at hiding her excitement, causing Rachel to turn around. The girl suddenly tensed up but turned back around, hoping that Kurt didn't catch it.

Once he walked in, Jesse noticed the familiar brown hair cascading down the back of a chair, seeing her turn around he smiled softly but hid after seeing Kurt. Jesse wasn't sure what Kurt's feelings for him were but he was positive they weren't friendly. He knew that he had missed Rachel immensely but seeing her now brought on a new feeling of pain and longing. Jesse wanted nothing more than to hold her, but he knew he should be mad. She led him on, only to kiss Finn Hudson, the one person he hated the most. Jesse couldn't help it though, he felt about Rachel the way she felt about Finn. He would always end up forgiving her.

* * *

><p>After The Unitards finished their song, Rachel and Kurt congratulated them and left quickly, leaving Jesse a minute alone with his glee club.<p>

He applauded slowly, "Guys that was great! We're going to kill at sectionals!"

Jesse had never been more proud of a glee club. He figured it was because he was leading it, not just being the lead. Harmony St. Claire was one of the most talented people he had ever met. She wasn't as good as Rachel, but eventually he could see her leveling the girls talent.

After the rest of The Unitards spoke amongst themselves and congratulated Harmony on her song choice and Sarah on her choreography, they all left except for Harmony who said she had left her bag and would meet them at school.

Harmony walked in quietly and hid behind the stage curtain. If she knew her mother at all, she would soon be walking in after her. She watched quietly awaiting her parent's meeting.

* * *

><p>Rachel had never felt so low in her lifetime. There were many times where she felt bad, but this one took the cake. She and Kurt had never realized how talented other people were. Not to mention that Harmony girl. There was something about her that reminded her of herself. It was scary, actually. The girl had a star necklace and talent that was close to hers.<p>

After Kurt had given Rachel a pep talk she suddenly remembered who she had seen in the hotel. She _had _to see him again, no matter what he would say to her.

"Oh I forgot my pink stereo… I'll be right back."

She quickly ran out of the car and into the room she had just been in. Not to her surprise, she saw the familiar curls of Jesse St. James, who was seated at a small table writing things down on a slip of paper.

Rachel spoke quietly, "Jesse…"

Jesse sighed and looked up from his paper, "Rachel… It's nice to see you again."

She was taken back a bit at what he had said. It was the last thing she expected to hear. Rachel would have much rather Jesse just be mad at her than him acting like nothing had happened. It made her feel even worse.

"It's nice to see you too. Sorry but why are you here?"

Jesse chuckled at her bluntness, "Well you just witnessed The Unitards, my very own glee club."

Rachel raised her eyebrow, "The Unitards? That's a terrible name."

He crossed his arms, "And New Directions is better?"

She considered what he had said. Compared to other glee club names, it wasn't perfect but something about it Rachel liked, "Yes actually."

Jesse smiled; he had always admired her loyalty to New Directions, even if he didn't understand it. "Well if you must know, I didn't come up with the name. In case you don't remember, last year I was too preoccupied helping another glee club get to Nationals." Pain suddenly flashed across his face as he remembered the kiss between her and Hudson all too well.

Rachel looked down at her feet feeling automatic guilt at seeing Jesse's face. "About that Jesse I-"

He sighed, "Rachel, save it. I don't need your sympathy."

She sat herself across from Jesse, "I'm not trying to sympathize but I feel terrible about what happened."

"Why? Was your _superman of kisses_ not satisfactory enough for you? Or what about that prince charming of yours? Is he not as perfect as you thought he was?" Jesse was already regretting some of what he was saying. When he was angry he seemed to lose his filter.

Rachel started speaking defensively, "Finn is a fine kisser, thank you."

A bitter laugh left Jesse's lips, "What about him being perfect? Got an answer for me on that?"

She licked her lips trying to compose herself; Rachel knew how terrible of a liar she was, especially around Jesse. "He's fine…"

He smirked at her, "You're a terrible liar, Rachel. A great actress, but an awful liar."

Rachel remained silent. She had no idea what to say after that. What was there to say? She knew that he could tell things with Finn were far from perfect. _Did he also know about her feelings for him? _Rachel had hid them from everyone, but Jesse was the one person that could always see right through her.

His expression softened a bit, "Just tell me one thing. Was it worth it?"

Shock flashed across Rachel's face at Jesse's question. She thought about it deeply before giving him the most truthful answer she could. There wasn't a point in lying when she knew he would be able to tell. "No."

Jesse nodded at her answer, "Do you still have my number? If he hurts you I'd be happy to beat his ass."

She laughed softly, "Yeah, I do. And I'm sure Noah would beat you to him, but I'll be sure to give you a call." Rachel stood up to leave before turning around once more, "Hey Jesse, can I ask _you _something now?"

He raised his eyebrows and nodded. Jesse had an idea of what she would ask, but waited to make sure.

"Why did you stay? I figured after nationals you would have gone back to UCLA or been in some show on Broadway by now…"

Jesse sighed; He knew that was what she was going to ask, but it was the last thing he wanted to tell her.

"Because I couldn't leave you."

Rachel nodded, attempting to keep the surprise off her face. She thought he would be beyond pissed at her. Rachel had braced herself for him yelling at her, but nothing like this. This gave her more guilt than she was originally hoping for.

"Hey, St. James?"

Jesse looked up at the girl in front of him, slightly confused, "Yeah?"

She smiled, "See you at sectionals."

With that, Rachel Berry had left the hotel and was on her way back to her home. Ever since she had talked to Jesse she couldn't stop thinking about him –more so than usual. Suddenly ideas started forming in her head. _Why is he being so nice? …Maybe he's being nice and then he'll break my heart just like I hurt him... _About a million different scenarios ran through her head.

She sighed; as if life wasn't already complicated enough right now, leave it to Jesse to show up.

* * *

><p>After their conversation Jesse wasn't sure where he and Rachel stood. He had admitted to her the one thing he hadn't told anyone, except for Harmony. Something about that girl gave him the chills in a weird way. She was exactly like Rachel, and even had a gold star necklace, but she also contained his cocky attitude. It was like she was a mixture of the two of them.<p>

Once Rachel had left Jesse replayed their conversation a million times. It seemed like it was in his favor. She had told him she would call, and not only that but things between her and Hudson weren't perfect, not to Jesse's surprise. Now he thought the best thing he could do was to sit and wait. As much as he wanted to call her, he knew that he would need to wait for Rachel to reach out. Unfortunately, he had no idea how long that would take.

* * *

><p>Luckily for her, neither parents noticed their daughter still hiding. Harmony was still confused on how she should feel about the exchange. She was hoping they would immediately run into each other's arms and everything would go back to normal, but sadly that isn't what happened. Harmony knew that's not how it would have happened but she had hoped.<p>

Once arriving at school she came to the realization that her parents may never get back together. The drama queen inside her began thinking of the worse scenarios possible. She imagined a life with Finn as her step-father. Harmony was sure he might make a nice father in some quiet town like Lima, but certainly not a father and husband to two people like Harmony and Rachel. He would hold them back, whereas she knew her _real_ father would help the both of them succeed. He believed in both of them, unlike Finn, and had similar hopes and dreams.

Harmony walked back to her dorm, crying silently. She hoped no one would see her, until Brad came walking down the hall. He stopped immediately seeing her tears.

"Harmony, what's wrong?"

She laughed softly, "That's probably the first time you've called me Harmony."

He smiled, "Don't get used to it, new girl. Seriously, what's wrong?"

Harmony shook her head, "Nothing, it's just my parents…"

The blond cocked his head, "What about them?"

She looked around the hall to see if anyone was around, not noticing someone she whispered, "Can we go to my dorm? I really don't want to talk about it here."

He nodded, "Sure."

After leading him into her dorm room Harmony sat on her bed and let the rest of her tears flow. "They're getting a divorce and my mom is dating the most awful guy, and if I don't fix this, then she's going to _marry _him. To know how awful that is? He's terrible to her. He doesn't have a job, doesn't do anything. All he's going to do is live off her success."

Her friend sat down beside her and put his hand around her shoulders, "Hey it's okay, it isn't your fault."

Harmony sniffled, "That's the thing, though. I have a chance to fix it, but I'm worried that I'm blowing it!"

Brad smiled, "Hey I'm sure you're doing fine, but don't put all the pressure on yourself. Things will get better and knowing you, you can handle anything."

She returned his smile and gave him a hug, "Thanks."

Even though she hadn't been here that long, Harmony considered Brad to be one of her closest friends. The Unitards were great, but he was like a brother to her, since she was an only child.

He booped her nose, "Hey, anytime. I think a few of us were gonna go do something this weekend if you'd like to come along."

Harmony nodded, keeping the smile on her face. "I'd love to."

For the first night since she had arrived in 2011, Harmony didn't skype her friends. Instead she went to sleep having sweet dreams about her parents getting back together and Rory finally admitting his love for her.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: That was kind of long for me and I really hope it didn't drag on or anything<strong>

**Anyway I hope you all enjoyed it :)**


	5. Chapter 5

**AN: I don't know if you all understand how excited I get when I see reviews/story alerts/favorites but they make my entire day and I wanted to be all sappy and say you all mean the world to me :)**

**To the anon with the question regarding Sugar, I answered it at the bottom because it's kind of a long explanation**

* * *

><p>Harmony climbed out of bed on Saturday around 9 am. It was rare for her to sleep in, but with all the work she had been doing recently, both in school and time travel, she was worn out. After showering, she searched through her closet settling on a black dress paired with a white denim jacket. She threw on her purple flats since Brad never told her what they were doing today. Instead all she knew was that she was hanging out with a few people in The Unitards.<p>

Harmony grabbed her phone to see if she had received any texts. There were two from Sugar, one from Brad, and a missed call from Rory. Ignoring the texts she checked her voicemail and wasn't surprised to hear Rory talking awkwardly.

"_Hey Harmony, you uh… you told me to call so we could hang out and since it's Saturday I thought you, me, and Sugar could see a movie or something… uhh… Just call me back… See you later, bye."_

She almost called Rory back but decided to check her texts first.

_**You and me are doing something today –Sugar**_

Hitting the next button she looked at the other one she had received from the same person.

_**Why do you even own a phone when you hardly use it? –Sugar **_

Rolling her eyes she hit the reply button and quickly typed out her response.

_I do use my phone, thank you. Actually I kind of made plans today… sorry :( -Harmony _

Her third text she had gotten whilst showering was from Brad.

_**Hey we're going roller skating, you in? –Brad**_

Harmony smiled brightly at her phone. She had only been roller skating once, but it sounded fun to be with her new friends.

_Totally! I'm going to fall about a million times though –Harmony _

Her phone vibrated again quickly.

_**It's okay, I promise not to laugh too hard ;) –Brad **_

_Oh shut up! What time are we going anyway? –Harmony_

_**Bus leaves at 8. Be there or be square –Brad **_

Harmony plugged in her iPod and began dancing around her dorm. _Eight o'clock just couldn't come soon enough, _she thought.

* * *

><p>Rachel sat on her bed listening to her Adele playlist. Ever since a certain reunion between her and Jesse St. James, she wasn't sure what to do. Her fingers ached to dial the number she knew by heart, but her head was deciding to be rational and remember she was still dating Finn.<p>

Rachel rolled her eyes at the thought of her current boyfriend. She couldn't understand why it was so hard for him to realize her first love was always going to be the stage. Sure she loved Finn, or was pretty positive she did, but staying with him the rest of her life as a housewife was not her ideal life.

Suddenly her phone began to buzz and she grabbed it quickly; silently praying it would be the same curly haired guy she had seen yesterday. Instead, it was her best friend in the world, which was also a relief. _As long as it's not Finn, _she thought. Rachel wasn't sure she'd be able to have a conversation with her current boyfriend without blurting about who she had seen the previous day.

"Raaaachel," Kurt sung out her name, "Remember that roller skating rink we went to that one time? Well after yesterday I figured we needed something fun to do, so Blaine suggested it and I just thought it was a great idea. I mean, roller skating rinks aren't the cleanest or most fashionable, but it's cheap and I guess it's pretty fun so are you in?" He was speaking a mile a minute, causing Rachel to chuckle softly.

Remembering her current situation, her tone turned cautious, "Is this like a double-date thing, Kurt?"

He began to speak again quickly, acting shocked at her question, "Not at all! Strictly thespians. Aka, you, me, and Blaine."

She laughed, "Okay, sounds perfect! What time?"

Rachel could practically hear Kurt smiling on the other line, "8:30. See you there!"

She smiled, "Okay, bye Kurt!"

After closing her phone Rachel breathed a sigh of relief. This was actually going to be fun, and it'd hopefully take her mind off everything going on. Maybe with some luck, she would figure out what to do about the two current men in her life, one being the safe option and the other being completely spontaneous.

* * *

><p>Once she arrived at the skating rink with Brad, Canada, Gavroche, Sarah, and Alice, Harmony immediately forgot about everything else. All that was on her mind was to have fun and get enough tickets to win a plastic microphone with a gold star on it. It was the first thing she witnessed walking into the place and reminded her so much of both her mother and herself she had to have it.<p>

"I've only been roller skating once, so I'm going to need help." Harmony laughed softly after admitting how bad of a skater she figured she was.

Sarah and Alice smiled, "We can all hold hands while trying to skate!"

All the guys scoffed at the two girl's idea. Brad spoke up for the three, "We happen to be magnificent skaters, and you all will be biting our dust. Have a nice kiddie skate, girls."

After the six got their skates on, Alice and Sarah obviously held back their own skating abilities to help Harmony. At first it was fun even though she had fallen more than a few times, but she went to sit down so that her friends could skate freely. Skating was never going to be a strong suit for the girl.

Harmony watched her friends and waved occasionally as they passed. After winning some tickets but not nearly enough to win the microphone, she asked if they would play Teenage Dream, a song she hated to admit she adored. Returning to her seat, Harmony sang along softly to the song, tapping her foot. Even though she wasn't skating much, she was having fun.

* * *

><p>Rachel started laughing as soon as they entered the rink. Hearing his favorite song, Blaine had immediately started dancing, which humiliated both Rachel and Kurt, even though Kurt happened to find it adorable. Singing quite loudly, she tried insisting him that people would mistake him for being drunk. Based on how good he was singing, all three of them knew that wasn't going to happen.<p>

After each of them put on their skates and went around the rink multiple times, Rachel could have sworn she recognized more than a few people here.

Rolling up to Kurt she whispered quietly, "Why do I know them?" She motioned towards two girls, one with red hair and the other with almond-shaped eyes.

Her friend shrugged, "I'm not sure, but I recognize them too…"

Once turning around Rachel saw a familiar brunette sitting. She remembered where she knew them from, "Kurt, it's the Gerber baby. They're in The Unitards!"

Kurt turned around quickly, "Oh my God, the Gerber baby. I swear Rachel; she's like you on drugs."

Rachel laughed at her friend's observation, "Oh shut up, I'm not as good as her."

He smiled, "No, you're better."

Both friends smiled at each other until Rachel noticed a girl was beginning to hit on Blaine. She raised her eyebrow; Blaine was being as oblivious as ever. "Uh… Kurt it seems you've got a bit of competition."

Kurt turned around to see what Rachel meant; he faced back to Rachel with a smirk, "Not for long."

She watched as her friend walked up to his boyfriend, throwing his arm around him. The girl looked at him weirdly before her eyes widened, realizing that she definitely wasn't Blaine's type.

Rachel laughed before skating over to sit next to the girl Kurt only referred to as the Gerber baby.

"Hey! Harmony, right?"

The girl next to her nodded with a smile, "Yeah, that's me."

Returning the smile, Rachel continued, "I'm sorry I never got to tell you how great you were. I'm afraid my friend and I were a little shocked at your talent."

Harmony's smiled widened significantly; getting a compliment from her mother meant so much knowing that she wasn't saying it _because _she was her mother. "Oh well thank you! That really means a lot, coming from someone as talented as you are."

Her eye brows shot up, "Me? Thank you and all, but when have you heard me sing?"

The girl smiled, "Oh, I take show choir very seriously. You seem just as surprised as Mr. St. James was when I said I had heard him sing also. I go to competitions, even if I'm not in them. It's great to see other talent and try to learn from it." The lie she used on Jesse seemed to work just as well on Rachel, which Harmony was thankful for.

Rachel nodded, "Oh, that's very smart, actually." She suddenly began to play with her hair realizing how awkward her next question may be for Harmony, "Speaking of Jesse –Mr. St. James, how um… how has he been?"

Harmony was trying hard not to show her excitement over her mother's interest in her father, "Oh, he's good, I guess… Teachers and students don't really talk much outside of class."

Rachel nodded again, understanding the situation. It wasn't like she talked to Mr. Schue outside of class, except for that terribly awkward period when she had a crush on him.

She laughed softly before asking her next question, "Do you uh… Do you know if he happens to have a girlfriend?" Rachel needed to know if Jesse was being serious or if he was trying to break her heart just like she had broken his. She quickly added, "I'm sorry that must be insanely awkward."

Harmony shrugged, "Although students and teachers aren't really supposed to discuss their private lives, I know for a fact Mr. St. James doesn't have a girlfriend. Although there are a few girls in The Unitards who I know wish they happened to occupy that position."

Rachel's eyes widened, "Oh my god you don't– oh I'm sorry this must be awkward!"

Realizing what Rachel had thought, Harmony's eyes widened almost as much as Rachel's had, "Oh no! Not at all, ew. No, you're fine." She wondered if she would be sick at the thought. Harmony loved her father but have a crush on him? That would just be wrong.

The older girl sighed out of relief, "Oh okay." She realized exactly what the other girl had said, "wait… why ew?"

Harmony shrugged, "He's kind of like a father to me." _Yeah, kind of, _she couldn't help but think. "I could never see him like that." Although she already knew the answer Harmony knew she wasn't supposed to, "Rachel, if you don't mind me asking, why all the questions about Mr. St. James?"

Rachel eyed the other girl for a minute, Harmony looked plenty trust-worthy. The fact that she didn't attend McKinley helped. She sighed, "Can I trust you? I know we don't really know each other, but we have some sort of women in showbiz type of bond, right?"

She nodded, "My lips are sealed completely. And yes, it's only the closest bond two people can have." Harmony added with a smile.

Rachel sighed, "Okay, well… Your coach and I… well we dated and he did something awful to me I never thought I could forgive him for. After about a week though, I missed him incredibly. Instead of calling him, like a normal person, I pined after the quarterback of the football team. Long story short, Jesse came back and apologized, for everything. We sung Rolling in the Deep and everything seemed perfect. Then came 'the kiss that missed' which I'm sure you've heard of, you being so into show choir and all. So basically I, in turn, broke his heart."

She laughed softly at her own problems, "I thought that he'd be in New York doing some show on Broadway by now. Truth be told, I'd much rather him be doing that and gloating about it to me, like I deserve. Instead he's here and acting nice. It makes me feel terrible, and now that I'm dating the quarterback I can't exactly talk to Jesse. Whenever I'm with him… I fall for him all over again."

Rachel sighed, "I'm so sorry, I'm loading all this on you, and he's your teacher. If glee club is awkward now, I am so sorry."

Harmony nodded as Rachel spoke about Jesse. She was actually surprised that her mother had chosen to open up to her. Usually Rachel was so secretive about her feelings. Although no one in New Directions liked Jesse, so it only made sense that Rachel had no one to talk to, leaving the job to Harmony.

"No, it won't be awkward, I promise. But look mom…" Harmony's eyes widened at the realization she had just called Rachel mom. She started speaking quickly hoping that Rachel didn't catch the slip-up, "…always used to tell me that people deserve epic romance. Personally, I think she stole that line from dad but I don't tell her that. Anyway, is that what you have with this quarterback? Epic romance? If you're having this many second thoughts just by seeing Jesse again, then obviously I'd say no."

Remembering one of her favorite actors she smiled as she threw in one of his quotes, "Besides, in the wise words of Johnny Depp, 'If you love two people at the same time, choose the second one, because if you really loved the first one, you wouldn't have fallen for the second.'"

Rachel sat quietly, listening to Harmony. The girl may be younger than her, but she was definitely brilliant. At least, when it came to relationships, she was. The Johnny Depp point gave her brownie points, also.

There was also the mention of epic romance. It was strange to hear it from someone other than Jesse. She was positive that only he had come up with that, but obviously not since neither of them had met Harmony before.

She sighed, "Well enough about my problems. What about you? Have a boyfriend or anything? I completely understand if you don't. I attempted to swear off guys and focus on the stage but that didn't exactly turn out like I planned."

Harmony shrugged; she had never told her mom about Rory. Not like it mattered now, since Rachel didn't know that Harmony was her daughter, she didn't have to worry about being embarrassed at parties between her godfathers and her parents. Harmony nodded softly while smiling, "I wish I did… I mean I like him, but he's pretty oblivious to _everything_. Actually I'm pretty sure you know him…"

Rachel raised her eyebrows and mentally scanned through guys she knew were oblivious to everything. _Oh no…_ automatically Finn popped into her head. Lots of girls liked him and if Harmony likes him things were bound to get awkward. "Really? Who?"

She smiled and averted her eyes from Rachel. Harmony had never told anyone out loud about liking Rory. Sure Sugar knew, but that was just because the girl had a sixth sense for knowing when people liked each other. Other than that, Sugar was pretty clueless. "Um… Rory…? Rory Flanagan…"

The older girl brightened at learning who Harmony liked. This was much better than the other girl having a crush on Finn. Rory seemed like a good guy, too. Rachel felt like Harmony was like a little sister she never had. "I know Rory! He seems nice… I hope things work out between the two of you."

Harmony smiled; it felt like she was with her mother again. She was technically, but Rachel was beginning to feel like her mother again rather than another teenager. It made Harmony incredibly homesick. "Thanks Rachel."

Both girls looked ahead to see two guys rolling up to them. Harmony recognized them quickly, they were the two dads of her crush.

Kurt smiled, "Oh Gerber Baby! I mean… Harmony! It's nice to see you again." He turned to address Rachel, "Hey we were about to leave, it's getting kind of late and Blaine has to go further to get home than we do."

Rachel nodded, "Oh yeah sorry, I completely forgot."

She got up slowly, trying not to fall. Rachel was a good skater, but she lost her balance occasionally. She started rolling away before turning around and going back towards Harmony, "Hey I was wondering if maybe I could see your phone? It felt nice talking to another girl who's practically the same person I am. I could give you my number and you could just send me a text or call me anytime."

Harmony smiled and handed Rachel her phone, not that there was a point. "That sounds nice, thanks Rachel."

After Rachel finished entering in the contact information she handed the phone back to the other girl. "Bye Harmony, I hope we can talk again soon."

Taking off her skates along with Kurt and Blaine, she awaited the interrogation she knew she'd receive from Kurt in the car.

Once Rachel climbed into the driver's seat Kurt automatically sat in the passenger side.

"Wouldn't you rather sit in the back with your boyfriend?"

Her friend looked at Blaine and smiled, "He knows I have to grill you. Anyway he'll fall asleep."

The voice in the backseat suddenly spoke up, "I will not!"

Kurt smirked and returned his gaze to Rachel, "Now, what's up with you and Harmony?"

She shrugged, "Nothing. I just saw her and decided I should tell her how good she is. We started talking a little, but that was it."

Unfortunately for her, Kurt wasn't convinced, "You talked about stuff more serious than that, I can tell. You seem to be forgetting I'm your best friend."

Rachel went mute until she looked in the mirror seeing that Blaine had, in fact, fallen asleep. "Okay, Kurt you cannot tell _anyone. _Not even Blaine. I love him, but I can't have the glee club finding out and he may accidentally let something slip."

He nodded with a slight smile, "Rachel you sound like you committed murder."

She sighed, "No, I have yet to kill anyone." Smirking, she added, "but that'd help me land the role of Roxie Hart, wouldn't it?"

Kurt laughed then glared at Rachel, "Would you just spill already? I am literally dying over here."

Rachel rolled her eyes, "You are such a drama queen. Anyway, The Unitards… Do you know who their choir director is?" Just at the sentence Rachel's whole demeanor changed. She was sufficiently quieter and focused only on the road, not meeting Kurt's gaze.

Her friend sat back trying to figure it out, speaking softly to himself.

"Let's see… Shelby's at McKinley so it isn't her… Sue's too busy with the Cheerio's… April's too drunk…" Suddenly his eyes widened, "No."

Based on his reaction, Rachel knew he had realized the very person it was.

"Yes."

Kurt began to freak out slightly, "But Rachel! Wait… When did you find out? Was he mad? Did he yell at you? Did you run into each other's arms? Sing? Does he even know you know? Why? Shouldn't he be in New York? Doesn't he hate you?"

She laughed at Kurt's questions and took a minute to make sure she answered them all before speaking her answers, "Friday. No, No, No," _I wish we had, though, _Rachel thought to herself. "No. Yes. For me. I thought so. No, even though he has every right to."

He sat silently, processing all of Rachel's answers. Most surprisingly was Jesse's reason for being here. "Wait… he's here for _you_? I thought he'd hate you."

Rachel shrugged, "I thought so too. You have no idea how guilty I was when he was completely civil towards me, even told me to call him. I asked him why he came and he didn't even try lying. He told me that he couldn't leave me. Kurt, I was so shocked."

Kurt shifted in his seat; he wasn't sure how he should feel about Rachel seeing Jesse St. Sucks again. In _his _defense, she broke his heart. In _her _defense, he made an omelet on her head. In _his _defense, he had apologized and she had forgiven him. In _her _defense,she was his best friend. But he sensed Rachel wasn't going to need him defending her. If anyone, she'd need him to defend Jesse.

He sighed, "When are you going to call him?"

Noticing her friend not asking _if _but _when_ threw Rachel off, "How do you even know I'm going to call him at all? I certainly don't know…"

He smiled, "Rachel I know you, and I know you with Jesse. You are going to fall for him like you do every time. The problem is that you have a boyfriend. Now I'm not going to go tell Finn all this because you're going to handle this your way."

Suddenly putting pieces together, he nodded his head slightly, "That's why you were talking to Harmony. She sees him every day, so she'd know a little about his personal life. You probably needed an opinion from another you, too. Didn't you?"

Rachel smiled sheepishly, "I will never understand how you know me better than I know myself. And yes, that's why I was talking to Harmony. She actually made good points, too. She also mentioned epic romance. _Epic romance. _I've never heard that from anyone except Jesse. It's weird. _Really _weird."

Kurt shrugged modestly at her first statement, then listened to his friend talk about Harmony. "She's like you and Jesse's child. I mean obviously she isn't, but if you two had a kid, I swear that'd be her."

She laughed, "Like Jesse and I would have a kid."

He shrugged, "You never know. I mean, maybe if you call Jesse you'll end up getting hitched, then take over Broadway, then donate your fetus to a TV show, make her the Gerber baby, and then raise her to be a Broadway star.

Both looked at each other and then laughed. Kurt was just as good at coming up with what-ifs as Rachel was. They could probably go on for hours talking about her and Jesse's fake future life, but pulled up to Blaine's instead.

Rachel looked at Kurt, "Do you wanna wake him? I'm sure he'd much prefer to see your face when waking than mine."

* * *

><p>Harmony was fairly certain she was going to die from being so happy. Not only had she had a long conversation with her mother, she had gained her number. Of course, she already had it, but Harmony couldn't exactly call it since they had never met in this year.<p>

The conversation had gone well too, at least it seemed to. Harmony had basically just talked Rachel into giving Jesse another chance. Her mother had been quiet throughout it meant that the girl was thinking seriously about what Harmony had said.

She collapsed on her bed and screamed happily. Worried she would wake someone in the dorm next to her, she climbed into the shower. After sending a quick text to Sugar and Rory assuring them they could hang out Sunday, she went to sleep.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Okay wow long chapter, and most of it was about Rachel. Well I hope you all enjoyed it!<strong>

**And now my overly-long explanation as to why I refer to Sugar as a blonde**

**Personally, I know Sugar doesn't have really blonde hair, but it isn't like really brunette either… She's like in the middle, or at least she is to me.**

**I'm also terrible at descriptive names for hair color other than the typical names such as Blonde, Brunette, Red. **

**However, if that's confusing for everyone I can start referring to her as something different. But that requires you telling me meaning you have to leave a review ;) **


	6. Chapter 6

**AN: Happy New Year! Hope you all have a wonderful 2012 full of St. Berry even though it isn't canon (forever crying due to the fact). ANYWAY wow! 16 reviews! That probably isn't a lot but for me it is and lkjdlkdalskjf literally going to die from happiness. **

**Also sorry this one took me longer to update than normal but school's starting so updates will be coming out slower.**

**Okay now that my excessive AN is over, enjoy the chapter! It's longer than the other ones but I hope you still love it :)**

* * *

><p>Harmony sat at The Lima Bean quietly waiting for her two friends to appear. They had all agreed to meet here and talk about how things were going since Harmony hadn't seen the other two in a while. Seeing the two of them walk through the door, she waved and waited for them to walk over after getting their coffee.<p>

Harmony stood to hug the both of them before sitting down again.

"It's been forever! How's McKinley?"

Sugar took a sip of her coffee before speaking, "Well if you hadn't been too busy yesterday we could've hung out." She was half-serious and half-kidding. Sugar was beginning to miss Harmony, but she was glad that her friend had met people at whatever school she had gone to.

"Anyway, McKinley is awesome. Mercedes joined the Troubletones and I think mamá is about to, also. Meaning that mom will totally join."

Harmony nodded; she wasn't quite sure if the Troubletones were that good, but Mercedes, Santana, and Brittany were all good singers, so they were going to have tough competition at Sectionals. "How's Mr. & Mr. Anderson, Rory?"

Suddenly out of the daze he had been in, Rory smiled, "Oh they're great, but I think dad was talking about visiting the Warblers. If I remember correctly, that's when he met Sebastian for the first time, so things are probably about to get difficult."

She cocked her head to the side, "Do you know what you're going to do when he does?"

He shook his head, "Not yet. I've been too busy pretending to be a leprechaun."

Both girls gave Rory a questioning glance. Sugar furrowed her eyebrows, "but everyone knows leprechaun's live in Ireland. Duh."

The other two teenagers gave each other a look, but decided to drop it. Sometimes it was scary how much Sugar was like her mother.

Changing the subject quickly Rory looked back at Harmony, "So how's that boarding school you're at?"

Brightening at the talk of her school, she set down her coffee, "Oh it's great! Everyone is so nice, at least The Unitards are, I don't really talk to anyone else. The classes are challenging, but they aren't that bad. It's nice having dad as my choir director. My job here is ten times easier."

Sugar shrugged, "So what'd you do yesterday?"

Harmony smiled, "Brad invited me to go skating with a few of the other Unitards, it was so much fun and best of all I ran into mom, and we had this great conversation–"

She was cut off by her friend's curiosity; both spoke at the same time on accident, "Who's Brad?"

She shrugged, "Just one of the guys in The Unitards."

Sugar looked at her questioningly, "Is he hot?"

Harmony blushed slightly, "I mean, I guess… I've never really paid attention. He's like my brother."

She noted the sigh of relief that came from Rory. _Is that because he was nervous I liked Brad? _Harmony couldn't help but think, before mentally shaking the thoughts away. That was the last thing she needed to start thinking.

Sugar eyed her, but ultimately decided she was telling the truth. "Well then give him my number," she added with a wink.

Harmony laughed, "I'll be sure to."

The three sat and talked about pointless things, before realizing how late it had become. They all exchanged hugs and Harmony realized how much she had begun to miss her friends.

She pulled out her phone to send a text to Rachel, but ultimately decided against it. She didn't want to come on too strong.

* * *

><p>Rachel sighed before walking into McKinley. Last weekend was full of many surprises, all of which she knew needed to be kept secret from everyone in New Directions other than Kurt, who already knew. Walking to her class quickly, the inevitable happened –she was greeted by her boyfriend, Finn Hudson.<p>

"Hey Rachel!"

She suddenly put on her show face, not that she ever didn't have it on unless she wasn't at McKinley, "Finn! Hi."

"Sorry I didn't text you or anything this weekend, there was a game on tv and man it was intense."

_At least he apologizes for something, _Rachel thought before replying, "Oh don't worry about. Kurt and I were at the NYADA application on Friday, and I was busy Saturday so it's fine…"

Finn looked at her, confused, "Wait you had a NYADA application on Friday?"

She sighed angrily, "Yeah, I've been talking about it nonstop, remember?"

He shook his head. Rachel could tell by the look on his face he was desperately trying to recall the memory, but obviously he had been too busy shutting her out to have heard her constant talk of NYADA.

Hearing the bell, Rachel looked back at her boyfriend; she was still a bit annoyed at his lack of care for her future, "Look I have to go to class, I'll see you during glee club, okay?"

Ignoring his attempt to kiss her cheek, she turned to go to history.

* * *

><p>After eating lunch quickly, Harmony was sitting on her bed looking up possible songs for sectionals. She had glee club next and didn't want to waste anymore time they had to practice. Once she heard her phone buzz she picked up without looking at the caller id.<p>

"We're doing West Side Story!" The words yelled out of her phone. Harmony checked to see that it was Rachel who owned the voice currently screaming.

"That's great Rachel! It'll look awesome on your app for NYADA."

The other line went quiet for a beat, "If I get the role."

"If? I can't imagine there's someone that would be going for Maria, other than you." Her mother was seriously questioning landing a role? Suddenly Harmony remembered about the Mercedes fiasco.

Over the line she could hear her mother sigh, "But there is. Her name is Mercedes, and she's very good."

Harmony shrugged, "Well then you're going to have to kill the audition, aren't you?"

Rachel's voice began picking up speed, "Would you help me get ready?"

She thought about the idea. Harmony would love to sing with her mother, give her feedback and everything, but that wasn't what she was here for. "I would love to Rachel, but you know who would be more help than I am."

There was silence on the other line, and she had to check to see if her mother had hung up on her. Luckily that was not the case.

"I should call him, shouldn't I?"

Harmony remained quiet, figuring Rachel needed to figure this out for herself.

"I should. He would help me more than anyone. Hell, Jesse could be on Broadway right now if he wasn't here. And I need to be perfect if I'm going to beat Mercedes. That's what he does, you know, bring the best singer out of me. But I'm still dating Finn, and he wouldn't be happy. Although, I guess Finn doesn't have to know. If he does find out, we're just practicing anyway, it's not like we're doing anything. Okay. I'm gonna call him. Thanks Harmony, even though I talked to myself mostly, thank you."

There was a click and Harmony knew her mother was about to call Jesse. The bell rang and she quickly made her way to glee club, knowing exactly that she would walk in to see her choir director on the phone.

Just as she had pictured, the members of The Unitards had taken their seats quietly, due to their teacher being on the phone. She only managed to pick up his side of the conversation, but Harmony knew perfectly well who it was.

"_Shouldn't you be in class?"_

"_I'm a teacher, we get special privileges. You however are going to be late."_

"_Rachel Berry doesn't care about being late to glee club practice? This must be important."_

"_Why don't you run over here after school? The stage here is great."_

"_Okay, I'll see you then."_

Turning around with a smile, Mr. St. James addressed his club, "Sorry, I was just talking to an old friend who's coming to visit. Speaking of which, I've picked out the main song we're doing for Sectionals. I hope you all have heard of Evita."

Harmony couldn't hide the excitement on her face, not only from the phone call she had overheard, but the mention of Evita. "Heard of it? I was practically _raised _by Buenos Aires. I only live and breathe it."

Thrilled by the excitement over his song choice, Jesse clapped his hands together, "Great! Because our main piece will be Buenos Aires." He had selected the piece because of a certain brunette he couldn't get off his mind, who he was going to be seeing in a few hours.

The thought was still unbelievable to Jesse. _She _had called _him. _She was still dating Finn, but still, they were going to see each other. Give, they were only practicing for her audition, but that didn't stop him from filling up with joy and hope.

Motioning to the board behind him, Jesse broke his thoughts of Rachel and spoke to the kids again, "Sign up on the board if you'd like to audition for a solo, and we'll hold them throughout the week depending on how many sign up."

After some of the students got up to sign up, he found himself lost in his own thoughts again. He looked up to see the look Harmony had given him. It was obvious she knew. How, he had no idea, but she did. After talking some more about possible songs for the rest of their set list, the bell had rung. Jesse held Harmony back while the rest of the class filed out.

"I don't know what you did, or how you did it. But thank you."

Harmony looked at him innocently, "Sir, I haven't the slightest idea what you're referring to, but whatever it is, I'm sure I was simply helping the inevitable." With that, she let the choir room, leaving her teacher dumbfounded.

The rest of school had gone by unbelievably slow for Jesse, Rachel, and Harmony. Since Jesse didn't have anything to do, he sat down trying to pick the perfect song for him and Rachel to practice with. Rachel and Harmony both had classes, not that they could pay attention during them.

Finally after the final bell rang, Harmony made her way to the tech booth to watch the events soon to come unfold.

* * *

><p>Rachel walked into the auditorium of The Smithsonian Academy of Music and Fine Arts slowly. Getting here was a bit challenging, since it was out of Lima, but she managed to find it quickly.<p>

Then she saw him. He was standing on stage and clearly hadn't noticed her yet, which caused her to stand still and watch. Jesse was singing quietly to himself. Whatever song it was, she wasn't able to hear him well enough to catch the words.

After realizing how creepy it would be had he caught her staring, she walked onto the stage, smiling.

"Hey."

All of Jesse's features brightened as his eyes laid upon the girl of his dreams, "It's nice to see you again. I didn't think you would call."

Rachel chose to ignore the second part of his statement. _She _didn't think she would call, but here she was.

"So I was thinking maybe I could perform, and you could critique it."

Jesse raised an eyebrow, "I thought you knew better, Rachel."

He laughed at the confused expression she gave him before continuing, "As flawless as your solo would be, you know you need to make sure you can hit the emotional depth it takes to be Maria. Although I'm sure you can, you could practice a solo with anyone in the glee club, but who else could you duet with?"

Rachel opened her mouth to protest, but she was cut off by Jesse.

"And don't say Hudson, because I know you don't get to sing to your full potential just to compliment his voice."

She crossed her arms; there was no point in denying the truth around him anymore. "Well what did you have in mind, then?"

Jesse smiled, "It's from Wicked, so I'm sure you've heard of it. You brought your stereo, right?"

Rachel nodded and handed it to him, "Why don't we just use the audio system here?"

He shrugged, "It's locked and I left my keys at my apartment this morning."

After putting the CD into the small pink stereo that Rachel had used as an excuse to see Jesse only a few days ago, he clicked the play button.

She smiled; automatically knowing the song the moment the music started. It was a dangerous song for them, and Rachel knew that Jesse knew it. She could never walk away from a Wicked song though.

_Kiss me too fiercely_

_Hold me too tight _

_I need help believing _

_You're with me tonight._

Rachel refused to look at Jesse. She couldn't, because she knew what would happen as soon as she did.

_My wildest dreamings _

_Could not foresee _

_Lying beside you_

_With you wanting me_

That's when she made the mistake she knew would happen –Rachel met his gaze and she felt it like a wave. All of her feelings she kept bottled up since the day they met were coming out again.

_Just for this moment_

_As long as you're mine _

_I've lost all resistance _

_And crossed some borderline _

_And if it turns out _

_It's over too fast_

_I'll make every moment last_

_As long as you're mine_

By now she realized how close the two were. During the song she had apparently moved closer to Jesse, and now they were holding hands. Rachel chose to blame it on the song. That she was simply, going with the emotion in the song. She knew that was complete and utter bullshit, though.

Right on cue, Jesse began his lines. He was still just as good, if not better, than last time she had heard him.

_Maybe I'm brainless_

_Maybe I'm wise_

_But you've got me seeing_

_Through different eyes_

_Somehow I've fallen _

_Under your spell_

If it weren't for how much emotion he was feeling and how into the song he was, Jesse would have laughed at how true the line was. He had never stopped loving Rachel, but this brought back feelings he never thought he'd feel again.

_And somehow I'm feeling_

_It's up that I fell_

Realizing that it was about to be her line, Rachel threw herself back into reality.

_Every moment_

_As long as you're mine_

Not much to her surprise, their voices still harmonized perfectly. It was as if they were meant to sing together.

_I'll wake up my body_

_And make up for lost time_

Once Jesse continued with his part of the song, Rachel found herself lost in his eyes again.

_Say there's no future_

_For us as a pair_

She finally noticed how close they were. Hell, they were practically embracing each other. _This is not good, oh my god. _Thoughts starting rushing through Rachel's head as they sang out the last verse.

_And though I may know_

_I don't care_

_Just for this moment_

_As long as you're mine_

_Come be how you want to _

_And see how bright we shine _

_Borrow the moonlight_

_Until it is through _

_And know I'll be here holding you_

_As long as you're mine_

Even though it was part of the song, Jesse would have asked the next line had it not been. Rachel looked like she was at war with herself, but he wasn't sure why.

_What is it?_

Rachel opened her mouth to speak, but nothing would come out. They were so close, and every ounce inside of her was begging for her to just kiss him. Then images of Finn suddenly flashed in her head, and as much as she had been considering leaving him recently, Rachel Berry was no cheater.

She backed away slowly, "Jesse… I…I'm sorry… Finn…" After muttering the only words she could formulate, Rachel ran out of the auditorium. She sat in her car crying, but drove home worried that Jesse would follow her.

Instead, he sat on the stage dumbfounded at what had just happened. Everything was going so well, until Rachel ran for the hills. All he could do was watch the only girl he had ever fallen in love with leave, again.

Jesse looked over to see that she had left her pink stereo. He laughed to himself, _just like Cinderella. _Somehow he figured he would need to return it, but he wasn't exactly welcome at McKinley.

Jesse began to formulate a plan for returning Rachel her stereo, and finally getting her to listen to him. He went home quickly to work on it.

Neither person noticed the girl still sitting in the tech booth, whose crying was harder than ever before.

Harmony ran to her dorm quickly, not wanting to be seen by anyone. Luckily she had made it without getting noticed. She didn't know why everything had taken such a turn. It was going so well, until her mother sprinted out because of _Finn. _

Her hatred seemed to grow towards him more and more. All he ever did was come in between her parents. Harmony couldn't fathom why her mother stayed with him.

* * *

><p>Rachel walked into school the next day with her eyes redder than normal from all her crying. She figured the only person that would notice was Kurt anyway, so it wouldn't really matter.<p>

The previous night, after arriving home from her interesting evening, she had come to a decision. Rachel either had to leave Finn, or completely cut off contact with Jesse. She came to the realization that life without Jesse was far worse than not being the quarterback's girlfriend.

Rachel walked up to Finn and pulled him over to a more secluded part of the hall. Thinking the absolute opposite of her intentions, he attempted to kiss her, which she dodged.

Sighing louder than intended, Rachel looked Finn in the eye, "Lunch. Go to the choir room. We need to talk."

She walked away quickly, not wanting to deal with any questions her current boyfriend had. Rachel wasn't looking forward to their meeting, but she knew it had to happen.

After her first four classes, Rachel explained to Kurt why she wouldn't be able to make it to lunch with him and made her way over to the choir room.

She sat down on the piano bench and waited for Finn. Before talking through it, Rachel was hoping to explain it through a song. Knowing Finn, he probably wouldn't understand, though.

Seeing him walk in, she spoke quietly, "Please sit down."

Finn sat down and sighed, "Rachel did you write another song? Get It Right was great and all, but if this is another one like Only Child or My Headband, can we do this a different day? I'm hungry."

Rachel rolled her eyes, "No. While I am singing a song, it's by Adele."

He smiled, "Cool! I like that one song… uh Rolling in the Deep!"

She took a moment to collect herself after Finn's mention of the very song she had sung with the man she was about to break up with him for.

"Well this one is called First Love."

The taller brunette smiled at the title, assuming Rachel was singing about her devotion to him. That was, until the lyrics started.

At first it seemed okay, until around the second verse.

_Forgive me first love_

_But I'm tired_

_I need to get away_

_To feel again_

_Try to understand why_

Rachel was surprised there weren't any tears on her cheeks. Usually she would be crying by now, but she realized it was because she wasn't sad about ending things. Not when she imagined the curly haired man she would allow herself to fall for completely after this.

She sighed after finishing the song and looked at Finn.

"I don't know if you understand–"

Immediately she was cut off by Finn, "Are you breaking up with me?"

Rachel opened her mouth to say something, but closed it and nodded simply instead.

"Why?"

Images of Jesse flashed in her head, but she knew that would be the worst thing for her to say. Rachel went with something equally truthful, "We would never have worked Finn. I'm done putting off the inevitable. You have football, I have the stage. Our lives would never cross, and do you honestly care about Broadway at all? Have you even considered NYU? You know I would never give up New York for you."

Finn looked at Rachel with pain in his eyes, but mostly confusion; it was something he never saw coming. "I thought you were okay with staying in Lima, as long as we were together."

She laughed, honestly surprised at how little he paid attention, "Finn, do you listen to me at all? I told you, acting is my life! The stage is my life! Not some high school sweetheart! I don't want to end up like Mr. Schue and Terri!"

He spoke softly, "I thought you loved me, Rach."

Rachel matched the softness of his voice, "I thought I did too for a while, but this year I realized what I really care about, and that's making it onto a Broadway stage. Not being some housewife for the rest of my life."

She looked down at her feet; Finn wasn't a perfect boyfriend, but she did feel bad about just leaving him. "I'm sorry, Finn. I really am, but we aren't meant to be together."

Rachel walked out of the choir room, leaving Finn standing there dumbstruck. She hoped Glee Club wouldn't be awkward, but there was no telling.

Right now, all she needed to focus on was landing the role of Maria, and then she could work out the rest of her life. Rachel quickly got out her phone to text the only two people who knew her whole situation.

_I just did it. I broke up with Finn._

She immediately saw Kurt's reaction to the text, which he quickly concealed due to the fact no one was supposed to know, even though they'd find out next period.

The other person who would receive her text, wouldn't need to hide their reaction. They didn't even go to McKinley.

* * *

><p>Even though there was a strict policy about cell phone use, Harmony couldn't help her curiosity once she heard her phone buzz. The only people she could think that would text her were in class, so she had to check.<p>

Once seeing who it was from, her curiosity was only fuelled more. Once she read it, she couldn't help her scream of happiness.

Unfortunately, the scream caused The Unitards and their teacher to look at her.

"Miss St. Claire, something interesting?"

She closed her phone quickly, even though everyone knew that was the reason she screamed, "No sir."

Jesse looked at her, slightly amused, "You know in Vocal Adrenaline, if you had gotten caught with a phone you'd read it out to everyone followed by running laps and then dancing until you threw up. Now me being the coach that I am, which you all should be thankful for, am only going to make you do the first one."

Harmony suddenly turned a bright pink, "oh Mr. St. James, I don't think you want me to do that."

Even though he knew he would kill Shelby if she had ever made him do this, he was smart enough to not get caught. Jesse found this to be a learning experience, not to mention a little funny, "I do, actually."

She sighed deeply; _Rachel should be telling you this not me, _was her first thought. Harmony couldn't say no to a teacher, though.

"I just did it. I broke up with Finn."

The rest of the students shrugged it off. There wasn't a Finn at their school, so realizing none of the drama would interest them, they began talking amongst themselves.

Harmony wasn't paying attention to them, though. She was watching her teacher's reaction. Although he was great at plastering on a show face, Harmony caught the surprise on his face.

Jesse suddenly got out his phone. He couldn't tell Rachel he knew, but he could simply ask why she ran out of the auditorium yesterday. Looking at his students who were confused as to why their director had frantically pulled out his phone he waved his hand, "Go study or something. School's probably hell right around now." He wasn't sure if school was tough at this point in the semester or not, but he needed to call Rachel.

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><p><strong>AN: That was quite long for me and I really hope it didn't drag on, because it totally could have and I wouldn't know. <strong>


	7. Chapter 7

**AN: I was really hoping to try and write a long one since I haven't updated in a while, but this turned out more of a filler because the bigger stuff **_**needs **_**their own chapters. So I'm apologizing for that because I really do feel bad about it.**

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><p>Rachel jumped feeling her phone vibrate during one of Mr. Schue's speeches about how everyone's important, or something like that. She had tuned him out as soon as he stopped talking about West Side Story auditions. Expecting a text from Harmony, she was confused when her phone continued to vibrate.<p>

Peeking in her bag as subtly as possible, Rachel checked to see who was calling her during school. It was weird since everyone knew she'd be in glee club at the moment. She saw Jesse's name flashing on the screen. Rachel didn't know why she ignored it. She just shoved her phone at the bottom of her bag as it continued to vibrate.

_How could he have found out so fast? _Rachel wondered. _Could it have been Harmony? No… she wouldn't tell Jesse… _She sighed remembering the day before. _He's probably just asking why the hell I ran out yesterday… God I shouldn't have done that… But that would mean that I'd have cheated on Finn and I would've felt terrible…_

Rachel stole a glance at her now ex-boyfriend. He seemed to be interested in what Mr. Schue was saying. She wondered if he hated her, it wouldn't be a surprise if he did. Rachel decided it was better to leave him now than on graduation day when everyone should be celebrating.

She glanced at her phone to see '1 missed call' shining brightly. Rachel sighed wondering if she should call him back or not. There was so much going on right now, she just wasn't ready to take a step further with him. She had _just_ broken up with Finn last period. Rachel couldn't just have a boyfriend the next day. It would seem like she was cheating, which she did not want a reputation for.

Returning her attention to Mr. Schue she heard that auditions were after school, which she was completely prepared for. Even though Rachel had left their practice session early yesterday, the duet with Jesse was amazing.

After the bell rang, she sat in the choir room while everyone else shuffled out. She was hoping to practice once more before auditioning but there was still someone sitting in his chair.

Rachel quietly made her way over to him, "uh Finn, do you mind giving me some time to practice in here? I really want –need to be Maria in the musical."

Finn sighed and slowly looked up at her, "Please Rachel. Just one more chance, that's all I'm asking for."

She crossed her arms; this was not the conversation Rachel wanted to have. "I did give you chances Finn, the fact that I have multiple times just shows that we aren't meant to be together. I'm sorry, but it's our senior year. It's time the both of us grew up."

She began to make her way out of the choir room, when she felt a hand on her arm. Rachel turned around and kissed Finn quickly. It was a form of closure, in a way. "Goodbye Finn." With that, she walked out the door leaving the man behind her speechless.

Rachel went straight to her car, not wanting to deal with anyone right now. She felt guilty for dumping Finn out of the blue, confused on her feelings for Jesse, and nervous about West Side Story auditions.

After letting out all her tears of frustration, she quickly wiped the tears away and dabbed on makeup trying to hide the redness. Rachel breathed deeply and made her way towards the auditorium. _You've got this, _she told herself.

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><p>Jesse knew not to call again after Rachel didn't pick up the first time. She was in school, after all. He knew that she would have answered though, if she had truly wanted to. Rachel may love glee club, but she would have happily left to "use the restroom" if she really wanted to talk to him.<p>

_But why didn't she pick up? _Jesse continued to wonder. _She did __just__ leave Hudson… And I'm not even supposed to know about that! Wait why doesn't she want to tell me she dumped Finn? She's probably worried I'll try even harder now to win her back, even though she was the one that grabbed my hand while we were singing. She's the one that moved closer. _He sighed, lost in his own thoughts. _And she's also the one that ran away. That's all she's ever going to be, the one that got away._

By now, all Jesse felt was sadness and stupidity. He was sad because here Rachel came into his life, again. And all too quickly she was out of it. He felt stupid for even wishing they would actually get back together. Clearly Rachel was always going to be too afraid to admit the sparks the both of them felt whenever they barely touched. It had scared him too at first, which only made him want to embrace it more. But when it scared Rachel, she ran back to safety, back to the arms of Finn Hudson.

Except this time, she dropped her safety net. Rachel had left the same person she would always run to when Jesse was in her life. It was progress. It still gave him that shred of hope he needed to stay positive. One day, they'd be together, and he knew it.

Jesse put his phone away, but kept the sound on just in case she called. There was always a chance that she'd realize how much she could benefit if she only took the risk. He wouldn't hurt her this time and she wouldn't hurt him, so what was stopping her?

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><p>Rachel walked off stage after her performance. She was feeling really good about it, especially after the help from Shelby. Talking to her mother only increased her stressed out mood, but practicing with her had defiantly given Rachel an edge.<p>

If it weren't for Mercedes she was pretty positive she would end up with the part. Mercedes was good. She was defiantly competition for the brunette.

After an announcement about Mercedes and Rachel going head-to-head tomorrow, Rachel left school as soon as she could. She felt a mixture of pity, anger, and resentment.

She knew the exact person who would make her feel better. Who would understand even if no one else did. But at the current moment, Rachel was ignoring him. She still wasn't completely sure why, but even though she wanted to call Jesse, she knew it was the right decision to wait. This was something they couldn't just jump into, no matter how much she wanted to.

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><p>Rachel sighed and looked at the cast list for West Side Story. She noticed everyone's reactions to their own parts. She realized she was the only one not happy. It wasn't her fault they had decided to cast both her and Mercedes, but why did she feel like it was?<p>

Mercedes quit the musical because of it. She even asked why no one wanted to hurt Rachel's' feelings. The question hit home, and hit it hard for Rachel.

Wasn't Mercedes one of the people that hurt her feelings constantly sophomore year? Along with the rest of New Directions? Rachel knew that she could be a little conceited at times, but the amount of hatred she received from people she thought were her friends that year cut deep.

Still, with her head held high, Rachel graciously accepted her dream role of Maria. Looking at the rest of the cast, she decided Blaine was going to make a wonderful Tony, even though she had been hoping Kurt would win the part.

There was no one more she had wanted to call than Jesse that day. She needed to vent everything, explain how she felt like the world was on her shoulders but no one seemed to care.

Finn would still try and be nice to Rachel in an effort to win her back, but she was simply done with their relationship. The day she had said goodbye was the day she decided she wasn't going back to Finn Hudson as usual.

A few people congratulated Rachel on receiving the part, but before anyone could actually talk to her she quietly made her way back home. She was great at keeping a show face on, but this just about destroyed it.

Rachel took the battery out of her phone, not wanting to deal with anyone or tempt herself to call one person in particular. _After West Side Story…_She told herself. After that, everything would be back to normal.

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><p><strong>AN: Please don't kill me even though I would kill me for this chapter.<strong>

**I promise I'll make it up to you all next week**

***which reminds me* I'm going to try and update this either every Saturday or Sunday... School's started so my schedule is getting busier and busier **

**(there's also a chance I'm going out of town next weekend and if that happens I'll try to get the chapter out sooner)**


	8. Chapter 8

**AN: I am so sorry this took so long to update, I was having writers block with this and it's just not been fun. I hope you all like the chapter though :)**

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><p><em>This is it. <em>Rachel thought as the bright lights shone on her,_ Showtime. _After countless weeks of rehearsal, she was positive the McKinley high version of West Side Story was going to go well.

The only time Rachel was worried she might have broken character was during Tonight. She had looked out into the audience and out of all people her eyes had fallen on Jesse. Rachel didn't even know he was coming, she even wondered why he would come. She hadn't exactly been on speaking terms with him, even though she had her reasons. They weren't exactly _good _reasons but they were valid ones. Or maybe that was just another excuse. Rachel could barely keep track of the excuses and real reasons for ignoring Jesse.

All the thoughts immediately flashed into her head when she had seen the same blue eyes that she always managed to get lost in. Rachel was a professional though; she settled her gaze back on Blaine and continued the show like it was her opening night on Broadway.

After she had received congratulations on the show, Rachel immediately made her way into the choir room. She knew he'd be there, she wasn't sure how, but she did.

"What are you doing here?"

Jesse raised his eyebrow, "Hello to you to. You know I loved talking to you so much the past few days I just needed to see you." His tone was more bitter than he had originally intended for, but Jesse was hurt. He understood if she had needed a few days to get everything sorted out, but a few weeks? Jesse was getting tired of the emotional rollercoaster Rachel always put him through.

Rachel opened her mouth to protest, but shut it realizing she didn't have an argument. She spoke quietly, "I-I'm sorry Jesse."

He sighed, "Dammit Rach. I love you. I've loved you since senior year, but I can't keep doing this with you!"

Her tone saddened, making Jesse feel sorry for snapping, "I know… But I had so much going on, with West Side Story and Sectionals in two weeks… Not to mention I dumped Finn."

Jesse looked up at her; she finally told him, "I understand if you needed to work out your feelings but a few weeks? I'm ready for us, but are you?"

Rachel nodded, "I am. I know I ignored you, but you were all I could think about. Did you not hear me? _I dumped Finn for you." _

His eyes met hers, "Does he know that?"

She shook her head, "Only Kurt and Harmony. You know the rest of New Directions can't find out, they'd think you were just trying to cheat since you're coaching The Unitards."

This brought a chuckle out of Jesse, "Even though you know I don't need to steal anything from Mr. Schuester."

Rachel laughed along with him; it felt good to just be happy with him, rather than fighting, "_I _know that, but they don't realize it." She furrowed her eyebrows, "Hey you speak as if New Directions doesn't stand a chance against The Unitards."

Jesse stepped closer to Rachel wrapping his arms around her waist, "And you speak as if I wasn't in Vocal Adrenaline for 4 years. Shelby may have put us through hell, but we won because of it. I think I know how to coach a winning team."

She smiled, "I missed you." Rachel placed her hands on his cheeks and kissed him sweetly. It was exactly what she had wanted to do for a few weeks.

"And I'm ready –for us I mean. But no one can know, except for Harmony and Kurt."

Jesse nodded, "I know."

Their lips met again in a tender kiss.

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><p>Finn had gone to West Side Story with the full intent to win Rachel back. He had been plotting out the moment every since she dumped him –he was going to give her flowers and she would realize that dumping him was completely a mistake. They had established they loved each other, right? Sure he didn't always pay attention to what she was saying, but he put up with it and that showed how much he cared about her.<p>

He waited in the auditorium for her to appear, but never saw her.

He located Blaine to ask if he had seen her, they weren't the biggest fans of each other but he was on a mission, "Hey man uh good job tonight."

Blaine smiled, "Oh thanks, Finn."

"Do you know where Rachel is?"

He frowned trying to recall where his friend had gone, "Yeah I think she went into the choir room."

Finn was already headed in the direction when he called over his shoulder to Blaine, "Thanks man."

Blaine was about to tell the taller male it was no problem but shrugged it off and went to find Kurt.

Finn was about to open the door when he heard a male voice coming for the room, unlike the female one he was expecting. He looked into the small window on the door and listened to the two people talking. It was muffled but he had been able to pick up on a few of the words.

"…_I dumped Finn for you!..."_

This caused him to wonder who she was talking to even more. Once he heard the other person's voice more clearly, he knew who it was immediately. The discovery wasn't exactly thrilling.

"…_I know…"_

Finn listened to the voices a little longer before removing his ear from the door and looking into the window. What he saw put him in a complete rage. There was Jesse St. James kissing _his _girlfriend. _Well technically not his girlfriend, but that's what he was going to fix tonight. Rachel should be his girlfriend. That should be him kissing her not Jesse St. Shit. _

He immediately got his phone out to send a text to New Directions informing them of Rachel's new boyfriend but figured it could wait until Monday.

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><p>After telling a few friends she had gone to West Side Story with that she wanted to tell a few people she knew in it that they did well, Harmony was quickly on her way to find Rory.<p>

He had almost run into her running to find him, "oh hey Harmony!"

She laughed, "Hey Rory; sorry about y'know running into you and everything."

Rory laughed and shrugged it off, "Don't worry about it. You looked like you were going somewhere important…"

Harmony looked at the ground that had suddenly become very interesting. Rory looked down also trying to figure out what she was looking at.

"I actually was looking for you."

He smiled, "Oh cool!" Rory motioned to the people behind her, "Are they from The Unitards?"

She nodded in response.

He scratched the back of head, "So uh is that one Brad?"

Harmony looked behind her then back at Rory, "Yeah that's him."

"And you two aren't…?"

She shook her head quickly, "oh no! Just friends."

An awkward moment of silent passed before Harmony addressed the elephant in the room, "Rory… Why do you care?"

Rory automatically went into an awkward attempt at answering her question without addressing the real reason, "Oh you uh… you're my friend and I care about you and Sugar… Plus I…"

Harmony quickly cut him off by standing on her tiptoes and kissing him. Rory was absolutely speechless as soon as they both broke away.

She laughed softly at the shock on the boys face, "Sorry I just…"

"No, no… That was… Why haven't we done that before?"

Harmony smiled, "because you are absolutely oblivious."

Rory scoffed, "I am not! I just didn't want to ruin our friendship…"

"Rory"

"Okay maybe I was a little oblivious… Should we tell Sugar?"

Harmony shrugged, "I'm pretty she'll know without us even having to tell her. She's been waiting for this for a while."

Rory furrowed his eyebrows, "Wait she knew?"

She nodded, "Sugar catches everything. Well everything worth gossiping about…"

He looked behind Harmony to see the person who he assumed was Sebastian based off the few pictures he had seen of him.

"Oh no. Harmony, I gotta go, Sebastian's here." Rory started to run off before turning around again, "But I'll call you…?"

Harmony smiled brightly and nodded; she'd been waiting for that moment a while.

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><p>Rachel walked into McKinley with Kurt going over every detail of her weekend. When she wasn't at West Side Story she had been spending her time with Jesse which meant she had a lot to tell Kurt, who wanted to know all of it.<p>

"…Well you know we can't exactly go to a lot of places around here because people would see us, but near the school The Unitards are from is a great little area with restaurants and movie theaters and such. Kurt I had so much fun, more than usual."

Kurt smiled; it had been a while since he had seen his friend so happy, "That's great, Rachel. Are you sure no one saw you on Friday?" Finn had been acting weird that weekend after the Friday show and Kurt started putting pieces together.

Rachel shook her head, "Not that I know of… Oh how are things with Blaine? I know the two of you were having some trouble with that Sebastian guy…"

A blush crept onto Kurt's face as he recalled the weekend and what exactly he had done with Blaine, "Oh we're great now. Sebastian's a pain, but Blaine and I love each other which he can't change."

She smiled, "I'm glad. You and Blaine not being together would be like the world ending."

Kurt laughed, "You're such a drama queen."

"It's true though!"

As both friends laughed, Finn walked up looking determined. For whatever reason that was for, Rachel had no clue but Kurt had his ideas.

"Hey Kurt, Rachel do you mind if we talk for a second."

Rachel looked to Kurt confused, and all he could do with give her a sympathetic smile, "Sure, Finn."

Kurt walked away to gather his things for class which would be starting in a few minutes.

Finn stood awkwardly, "So how was your weekend?"

Rachel sighed, "Um Finn I have class, could we discuss my weekend another time?"

He scratched the back of his neck, "Well actually I was wondering if you'd like to go to Breadstix this weekend…"

She shook her head, "Finn I can't…" Rachel wasn't sure what to say to him. She couldn't exactly explain to Finn that she was dating Jesse. "I'm focusing on my future. It's senior year, I have to make sure I get into NYADA."

Finn raised his eyebrows; he wanted to know if she would tell him. Clearly she had lied straight to his face, "Well I hope you and your boyfriend have fun focusing on your future." He turned around to walk to class hearing Rachel yell back to him something about not knowing what he was talking about.

Rachel walked to her own class quickly with a million thoughts about what Finn had said racing in her head. _He can't know... but then why would he say that... no he's just upset… That's it, he's just upset. _She kept telling herself that was the reason and by the end of class she almost believed it.

Then she walked into Glee club and realized that wasn't the case.

Half the room looked pissed and the other half looked like they could care less. Rachel didn't want to ask but for some reason she had to, "What's wrong?"

Tina crossed her arms, "Rachel how many times do you have to learn Jesse isn't a good guy?"

Artie looked to Tina then back to Rachel, "Yeah, come on. He's just going to be trouble again."

Rachel laughed out of disbelief, "I'm sorry what? How is this any of your business?"

Kurt immediately took his friends defense, "We've all grown up, including Jesse. It's time we let go of the past, don't you think?" He shot a smile to Rachel who returned it gratefully. She hoped everyone would listen to Kurt if they wouldn't listen to her.

Rory smiled, "Harmony says he's really cool, too."

Everyone looked at him curiously except for Rachel and Kurt, who already knew who Harmony was unlike the rest of New Directions.

Finn turned to him, "whose Harmony?"

Rory smiled brightly, "Oh she's in the leotards or something like that, Jesse is their coach."

The taller male looked back to Rachel, "See? He's even got his students to do the same thing."

Rachel huffed, "Actually Harmony's liked Rory for a while now, and as hard as it may be for you to believe, Jesse likes me."

"How would you know Harmony's liked Rory?"

She spoke matter-of-factly, "Because we've spoken multiple times."

Finn narrowed his eyes, "How long have you known Jesse's in town?"

Kurt widened his eyes; the answer wasn't going to make Finn happy.

Rachel crossed her arms, "Since Kurt and I went to the NYADA application thing, or do were you even listening when I told you about that?" This was going all wrong. No one was supposed to find out. This was supposed to go smoothly, and no one would figure out they were dating until after sectionals at least.

Mr. Schue walked in right as Rachel stormed out. She wasn't going to sit there being told her decision to be with Jesse again was a bad one. She knew that was a lie.

* * *

><p>Harmony walked into the auditorium where Mr. St. James, surprisingly it was getting easier to say that rather than dad, was holding auditions for solos. She already knew she would get them, but she couldn't show it. Harmony didn't want the other unitards to think she was stuck up just because she realized her own talent surpassed most peoples.<p>

Harmony made her way down the aisle nodding to the few people sitting the audience. She quickly walked up to her teacher, "Mr. St. James, do you mind if I go first?"

Jesse shrugged, "Go ahead, it'd be nice to start off with someone talented." He looked up at her from the notepad he was scribbling on, "Wait I wasn't supposed to say that. Oh you know you're talented it doesn't matter."

She smiled before walking onto the stage. Her father seemed much happier than he had a few weeks ago. She figured things between her parents were going well, which reminded her she should probably focus on that rather than her new relationship with Rory.

Just as she had expected, Harmony had preformed the song beautifully. She knew she had the solo, even though no one else had auditioned yet. Trying her best to conceal her smirk she looked at her teacher, "So when are solos announced?"

Jesse looked up from his paper, "I'll post them tomorrow."

Harmony nodded and walked out of the auditorium. Her phone started ringing and she answered it quickly hoping no one heard it go off.

"_Hello?"_

"_Harmony? I'm sorry to bother you but I needed someone to talk to."_

"_Rachel? No it's fine, what's wrong?"_

"_Why don't people understand that people can change? He's not a bad person but everyone thinks he is. Is it so hard to believe that someone can like me without having ulterior motives?"_

"_Did they find out about you and Mr. St. James? Wait when did you get back together?" _

She heard a loud sigh on the other end of the phone.

"_Yeah, apparently Finn found out and told everyone. I stormed out before anyone could say anything else. Oh and we got back together last weekend, I meant to tell you but I was so busy."_

"_Oh Rachel I'm sorry, is there any way you can show them that he's a good guy now?"_

"_I don't know. I think they're bound and determined to hate him for no reason. Plus now they think he's gotten you to date Rory for ulterior motives also."_

"_Well then I guess I'm going to have to go explain that I'm not."_

"_What?"_

"_I'm visiting McKinley tomorrow."_

"_Harmony you really don't have to-"_

"_Yes, I do. Not only are they calling my teacher and you liars, but they're saying I don't actually have feelings for Rory? That won't do."_

"_But what about school?"_

"_I'll just skip glee club."_

"_Jesse will kill you."_

"_Not if he knows why I'm going." _

"_Although I don't quite agree with it, thank you Harmony."_

"_It's no problem, Rachel. Women in showbiz have to stick together, right?"_

"_I guess you're right. See you tomorrow then."_

"_See you tomorrow." _

Harmony shut her phone and turned back around to go into the auditorium. She sat down listening to the rest of the auditions until everyone else had left. She made her way to Jesse.

"Mr. St. James, I'm afraid I won't be attending glee club tomorrow."

"And why won't you be?"

"Because I have to help out a friend and explain that I'm not a liar."

"And who is calling you a liar that makes it so important you skip?"

She crossed her arms, "Finn Hudson. I believe you know him."

His expression tightened, "I believe I do too. And who is this friend of yours?" He already assumed the answer.

"As I recall she's your girlfriend."

Jesse narrowed his eyes, "Do I want to know how you know that?"

Harmony shrugged, "Relax, I'm not facebook stalking you like almost every other girl at this school. Rachel and I are friends and most friends talk about their relationships."

He nodded, "Well as a teacher I'm afraid I can't let you leave campus unaccompanied."

She raised her eyebrow, "You want to go?"

Jesse nodded, "I would never miss a chance to piss off Finn Hudson."

Harmony tried to hide her laughter. She had defiantly gotten her dislike for Finn from her father, even though that wasn't technically a genetics thing. She wasn't sure if Jesse going to McKinley was such a good idea, though. She decided it was probably best to not tell Rachel the fact.

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><p><strong>AN: I promise I'm going to try and update MUCH faster.<strong>


	9. Chapter 9

**AN: **_**Please **_**don't kill me for taking so long to update. Rehearsals/Homework are controlling my life right now and unfortunately writing has to take the backseat.**

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><p>Harmony looked into the mirror sighing before walking out of her dorm room. It was her plan to go to McKinley, but she was beginning to think it wasn't a very good one. She was determined to prove that she certainly was not lying about her infatuation with Rory, but she always lost her temper around Finn. Harmony didn't think her father would be very good at controlling his temper either.<p>

Walking out the doors of the school, Harmony put her sunglasses on and scanned the parking lot for her father's car. Of course he never used it much in New York, but if she and her parents ever took a trip that wasn't by plane, they would take his car.

Spotting her teacher by his vehicle, she waved quickly and walked along the pavement to his car. Harmony paused momentarily wondering if it would be better to sit in the back or passenger seat. She had never been so personal with a teacher, even if this one was her father. Harmony capriciously sat in the front, figuring it wasn't actually that big of a deal.

"Rachel doesn't know you're coming," She blurted out.

Jesse turned the keys in the ignition calmly, "I figured she didn't. Knowing Rachel she would've told me to go easy on Finn when we talked last night." He shrugged, "I'll behave if he does." Although his outer exterior was calm, Harmony noted his tone laced with a familiar bitterness she herself felt whenever Finn Hudson was involved.

Harmony looked out the window trying to calm her worries that a large fight would end up happening later, "You're going to have to behave or she'll leave you like *that*" She snapped at the end of her statement, adding emphasis. Realizing how blunt she had been, Harmony quickly added, "I'm sorry that wasn't my place to say anything, but Rachel's my friend now and I've come to realize the type of person she is."

Jesse shook his head, "I understand what you mean, and since you're close to Rachel I'd consider us somewhat friends, although you should technically be my student before that."

She shrugged, "You're more like my dad than one of my close friends, although my dad and I are pretty close." Harmony loved her mother but she had always connected better with her father. She never felt the need to always have a man in her life like she felt her mother did. Of course, Harmony did have her crush on Rory, but her main goal has always been Broadway.

He chuckled, "Well I never considered myself to be a father figure, but I'll take it."

Harmony kept her mouth shut in an effort to not expose the whole reason she was here. She had a feeling neither of her parents would believe that Harmony was their daughter, even though there were countless resemblances. She thought maybe she would tell them one day, but certainly not yet.

As Jesse steered the car into one of the parking spaces, he pulled the keys out and looked at Harmony, "You don't have any kind of plan for this, do you?"

She shook her head meekly, "no…" Harmony felt she should have planned at least _something, _but she was far too busy being nervous about what would happen to make sure nothing wrong would. Now she realized that she wouldn't have had to worry had she formulated a plan.

He shrugged, "It'll be fine so long as Hudson controls himself."

Both climbed out of the car and made their way into the doors of McKinley. Jesse had quickly decided that Harmony should enter the glee club room before him, knowing they wouldn't yell at Harmony like they would at him. At least, he hoped and assumed they wouldn't.

The bell had rung, leaving the halls almost deserted as Harmony made her way to the door of the choir room. Her father was wasting a bit of time, giving her a moment to introduce herself and state her own case before he walked in. Both knew that his arrival would cause a larger uproar than hers.

Harmony steadied her breath and opened the door, walking into the room with a bright smile.

"Mr. Schuester, I hope I'm not interrupting some random assignment that won't help you towards sectionals, but I just had to visit my friend and boyfriend."

The older man looked back at her from his white board he had just scribbled their weekly assignment on. He spoke to her with utter confusion in his face, "Young lady I'm not sure who you are, but these are private." Will admitted to himself her comment on his coaching skills put him out a little and he wasn't sure he wanted her sticking around.

Harmony smiled, "Please, sir? I've heard you're a nice teacher so I thought it'd be okay." Based on accounts from various people on Mr. Schue, she knew the best way to get what she wanted from him was to enhance his ego.

Mr. Schuester smiled, "Well I guess its okay… Would you like to introduce yourself?"

She nodded and walked to the front of the choir room, "First off my name is Harmony St. Claire, and I feel I should address the real reason I've actually come here."

Harmony paused for the dramatic effect she always craved, "It seems that people think I'm only dating Rory because I want to win sectionals or something crazy like that." She shot a look at Finn who quickly looked away not able to meet her hard gaze. Harmony smiled, "Not to mention the fact that my friend is going through something similar, except everyone believes her boyfriend is doing what you all think I am doing. It's a shame really because both of us happen to care deeply for our partners."

She walked over to take a seat next to Rory and smirked as she sat down, "but you don't have to take my word for it because I think he could explain it better than I could."

Rachel's mouth dropped at Harmony's final sentence. She knew exactly what it was the girl implied. Her eyes immediately went to the door waiting for the moment he would come waltzing in.

Jesse, who had been listening to Harmony's speech through the door, walked in as soon as she had sat down.

"So who all missed me?" He had a smirk plastered on his face, especially seeing the reaction he had gotten from the room.

Mr. Schuester raised his eyebrows at the sight of his former student, "Jesse what are you doing here?"

Finn tensed in his chair, knowing it wasn't a good idea to punch the smirk of the other guys face, at least not in the middle of glee club. But after glee club, preferably behind the gym or in the parking lot, the idea sounded perfect.

Jesse noticed the awkward shift Finn had made, which only caused his smirk to remain on his face, "I just thought I'd visit my lovely girlfriend, and of course I can't let my student leave school unaccompanied."

The teacher looked from Jesse to Rachel, slowly putting all the pieces together, "Jesse if I could have a word?"

He shrugged with a nod and both men walked into the hallway.

"Yes Mr. Schuester?"

"This is a dangerous game you're playing, Jesse."

"Actually, it's not. You see, even though we haven't been back together for too terribly long, we support and care about each other very much."

The older man shook his head, "She's still in high school."

"Yes, but she's eighteen and _I'm _not her teacher, so it's perfectly legal," Jesse pointed out.

He sighed, exasperated at the other man's obvious disregard for any words of caution, "It's just not a very good idea."

Jesse was growing just as frustrated as Mr. Schuester was, "Look, I know you think I may be too old for her, even though I'm only two years older, or something along those lines, but _please _try to understand that what we have is special. People always say third time's the charm and personally I believe it to be true. But even if it was the fifth or sixth, Rachel and I will always find each other."

Mr. Schue sighed and nodded, taking in what Jesse was saying. He didn't fully condone it, but he did realize that the man had obvious feelings for Rachel and clearly he wasn't letting anyone get in the way of them. "Well as long as you know what you're getting into."

He smiled, "believe me sir I do, and I'm happily along for the ride."

* * *

><p>Rachel held her breath as Jesse walked outside the door with Mr. Schue. <em>Here it comes, <em>she thought. She waited for Finn to turn around and throw accusations at her. Not surprisingly, they came as soon as the door shut all the way.

"Did you ask him to come here? All he's gonna do is watch us and steal our moves/set list."

Before Rachel could even protest that she had no idea Jesse was coming, Harmony snapped at him.

"Actually it was my idea," she stated proudly.

Artie looked at her dumbfounded, "Girl, who the hell are you, anyway?"

Rory put his arm around Harmony and smiled proudly at the fact he believed the most beautiful girl in the room was sitting next to him, "Her name is Harmony, and she's my girlfriend."

This received a smile from Artie, who was more excited at the fact he wouldn't have to compete for Sugar's attention than anything else.

Finn crossed his arms over his chest, looking forward angrily, "Well I don't trust her. or St. James. Once a spy, always a spy."

This caused Rachel to stand up in a huff. She stood unwavering in front of the white board; all eyes looked at her shocked.

She was annoyed and quite frankly, pissed off that everyone was determined to hate Jesse, "Look. First of all, when did he ever spy on us? As I recall Vocal Adrenaline didn't steal anything of ours, not like they even needed to. I know you're all upset that Jesse is more talented than most of you, but for Christ's sake let it go!" Rachel laughed, "I know it might be hard to believe, but Jesse actually likes me. There isn't some ulterior motive. He actually likes me! Yes, a few years ago he dropped an egg on my head, but what did he do? He apologized. Which is a lot more than I can say for most of you," she said shooting Finn a look.

Rachel went to sit down, but paused, "Oh and for the record? Harmony is a great girl and she's been more of a friend to me than half of you over the course of high school."

All eyes in the room shifted downwards except for the few whose Rachel's words hadn't been directed at.

Jesse and Mr. Schuester waltzed back into the room, Mr. Schue taking his normal place in front of everyone and Jesse taking the seat next to Rachel, casually draping his arm of her shoulders. He smirked at Finn who stared at the couple with distaste. Rachel was oblivious to the moment, paying her attention to Mr. Schue and his new assignment.

Finn stood up in front of the choir room after Mr. Schue was done with his whole spiel. His attention was directed towards Jesse, knowing what he was prepared to say would send the man into a rage.

"Mr. Schuester I was thinking that Rachel and I could do another duet for sectionals this year since it always ends up going well."

Jesse snorted, "Yes, because watching Rachel strain to make her voice sound worse so that it doesn't completely blow yours out of the water is 'going well'." He motioned towards Puck sitting on the other side of the choir room, "Puckerman over there is better than you are. If you want to have shot at winning, especially against Harmony's kick-ass solo, I suggest he sing with Rachel."

Finn was biting back every insult he could think of, and he wanted nothing more than to use Jesse as his human punching bag, but he knew that was a bad idea.

Much to Finn's dismay, Mr. Schuester was taking in what Jesse had said. He looked to the senior sitting in the back of the room, "Would you want to sing, Puck?"

Puck shifted slightly in his seat, "Why not?"

Finn went back to sit down casting one final glance at Jesse. He was prepared to pummel him after glee club.

* * *

><p>As soon as the bell rang Harmony, Jesse, Rory, Rachel, and unnoticed by the others, Finn stayed behind in the choir room.<p>

Harmony rushed over to Rachel quickly, "I'm sorry I should have told you but for the record it wasn't my idea that he come too."

Rachel laughed and hugged her friend, "don't apologize! I can't thank the two of you enough for coming and being my friends when I'm pretty sure half the people here want to bite my head off."

She pecked Jesse on the lips quickly, never one to partake in PDA, "I cannot believe you didn't tell me you were coming!"

He laughed, "Surprises are so much better, though."

Rachel smiled, "well I guess this one was."

Jesse raised his eyebrow, "Oh you guess?"

She nodded, "I guess."

He put his hands on her waist, pulling her closer, "I think you'll know after-."

Jesse was cut off by Finn tapping on his shoulder.

"And what do you want?"

Finn motioned towards how Jesse was standing, his arm still holding onto her waist, "I want you to get your hands off Rachel."

He laughed, "I'm sorry, who's her boyfriend?"

Finn lunged for Jesse, who ultimately saw it coming and swiftly moved out of the way, "I'm sorry Finn, but I can't fight with you because Rachel would probably get pissed at me for beating the shit out of you. Did you think Dalton was the only school around here with a fight club?"

Harmony tried to contain her laughter at the whole occurrence, and was able to hold most of it back until they were out of the choir room and out of Finn's sights.

Jesse looked at the three people next to him, "Let's get out of here."

Rachel bit her lip, looking back at the choir room uneasily, "Should we check to see if he's okay?"

There was a slight crash coming from the room which Harmony only assumed was Finn running into a chair or trying to use one to help himself up. She waved off the others girls question, "Nah, he's okay."

Jesse nodded approvingly and jingled his keys, "I mean would you rather go do something fun, or go check on Hudson?"

Rachel smiled and grabbed his keys, "Let's go."

The couple ran towards Jesse's car as if they didn't have a care in the world. Harmony walked in their direction slowly with Rory.

"Your parents… I understand why you came with us, Harmony."

She remained silent for a few moments, debating whether or not to admit to Rory what she had been thinking about lately.

"I'm thinking about telling them."

It took him a minute, but Rory caught on, widening his eyes in shock, "About you? Harmony I don't think that's a good idea."

Harmony shrugged, "They deserve to know. Of course, I was going to wait until the night I go back but it seems like I'll be leaving sooner than I thought I would be."

Rory looked weary about it, but he knew that Harmony always knew what she was doing, "if you're sure…"

She nodded and grabbed his hand, leading him to her parents. As Jesse was about to climb in the driver's seat, Rachel paused, "I can't leave my car here…"

Harmony shrugged, "I can drive it."

Rachel smiled gratefully and handed her the keys, "Wait where are we even going?"

Jesse shrugged, "Anywhere that isn't McKinley."

Harmony smiled, "I'll just follow you."

They ended up at the Lima Bean since most people would still be in school at the moment. Rachel was never one to skip, but considering she had never done it before she figured she could say she got sick and no one would question it. Unless of course they saw her leave with Jesse, but she had found lately less and less people cared about her.

Rachel and Jesse had gotten there first, so they ordered their coffee and found a small table that would fit all four in the corner of the café.

She sat close to him, resting her head on his shoulder. Jesse smiled softly enjoying the moment, and waved to Harmony and Rory as they entered the building.

The two made their way to the table smiling brightly. Rachel sat up so she could speak to everyone properly, "Harmony, Jesse… I wanted to say thank you for coming to McKinley today. It meant… it truly meant a lot."

Harmony smiled, "So you aren't mad?"

The other girl laughed, "mad? Not at all! I thought it was nice, especially not having to deal with everyone on my own."

Rory looked sheepishly, "I'm sorry I never stood up for you before, Rachel."

She shrugged, "you didn't know the situation, it wasn't your fault."

It made him feel bad since he practically did know the situation, but he was too busy focusing on other things to do anything about it.

Jesse put his arm around Rachel, "well hopefully you don't have to deal with anyone again. Besides I would have thought Mercedes and Santana would've been the first to murder me, where were they?"

Rachel gasped, "I never told you? They started a new glee club, The Troubletones. Their coach is... Shelby…"

He raised his eyebrow, "Shelby's back?" His tone was laced with anger that Rachel caught instantly. She nodded, not really wanting to discuss her birth mother, "Yeah, she is."

Jesse spoke bitterly, "And when did this seem like a good idea to her?"

Rachel placed her hand on his arm in an effort to calm him down, "It's okay, I barely see her anyway."

He sighed and looked at the couple across from him, "Sorry, bad blood between me and an old coach."

Harmony had never seen much of her grandmother, which wasn't as surprising now that she realized the full extent of her father's dislike for the woman. She shrugged, "It's okay… clearly the two of you still have a bit of catching up to do."

Rachel smiled, "Maybe a little, but this is time for the four of us to hang out." She paused before continuing again, "I really can't thank you enough, either of you."

Harmony laughed, "Rachel you've thanked us enough! Plus, did you see Finn's face? It was absolutely priceless!"

Jesse and Rory began laughing and even Rachel found herself beginning to giggle. She felt bad, sure, but it wasn't like he didn't somewhat deserve it. "We should not be laughing," if it weren't for the growing laughter coming from the small brunette, the other three might have taken her seriously.

Jesse rolled his eyes playfully, "Worried about poor finnessa?"

She smacked his arm lightly, "I am not!"

Harmony played along with her father, "I mean we _could _go back and check on him."

Rory shrugged speaking sarcastically, "Yeah, maybe if we're lucky he'll insult Harmony."

"Which would only be okay if Jesse kicked his ass afterwards," she pointed out.

Rachel's laughter continued, "Okay! Okay! I get it!"

Their conversation drifted to nearly everything, and after Rory almost slipped up about him and Harmony's actual relations to the other two teens, Harmony decided it was probably best to head back to her dorm.

She and Rory said goodbye to Rachel and Jesse before walking outside to call a cab so she could get back to the school without having to bother her parents.

"You have to be more careful, Rory. If they ever find out I want it to be from me."

"I know, I'm sorry. I really am. It's just difficult, especially when they act like the St. James' that I know." He sighed, "I wish my dads were acting like themselves again, but this Sebastian guy is really screwing things up."

Harmony placed her hand on his cheek, casting him a sympathetic look, "I'm sorry. Kurt and Blaine love each other, though. I know Sebastian may seem like a jerk but your dads can get past him. You might just have to help them a little." She placed a soft kiss on his lips before turning to get into the cab. "See you later, Rory."

Rory still had a smile plastered on his face from the kiss, "See you, Harmony."

* * *

><p>Rachel watched as the other couple walked out of the Lima Bean. She found it weird they had randomly showed up in Lima the same time, not to mention the fact that they acted as if they've known each other a lifetime, yet Rory was from Ireland.<p>

Jesse's eyes were in the same direction as hers, "it's weird isn't it?"

She nodded in agreement, not even shocked that he could practically read her mind. It was one of the things she had liked about their first relationship, and she was still fond of it.

He broke his thoughts of the loving, but strange couple and turned to Rachel, "Are you going to be okay tomorrow?"

Rachel nodded, "Why wouldn't I be?"

Jesse shrugged, "What Harmony and I did may have helped today, but what about tomorrow? Or the day after? I've had first-hand experience with their ability to hold grudges and I don't want you to have to experience that."

She smiled softly, "I'll be fine. Besides, I only have until the end of this year, let them hold a grudge if they want." Rachel pecked his lips, "I have you, Harmony, Kurt, and Blaine and that's all that matters."

He smiled, more so to assure Rachel than what he was actually feeling. Jesse worried that her "friends" would take out their hate for him on her. He placed his arm around Rachel's shoulders as they walked out of the Lima Bean.

Rachel sighed happily, "I'm glad we got back together, Jesse. No matter what anyone says I know we're perfect together."

* * *

><p><strong>AN: I hoped you all liked it :) <em>R&amp;R (please)<em>**


	10. Chapter 10

**AN: This chapter's kind of a filler, which I hate doing after taking so long to update but I've had such writers block lately this is the best I could do; plus I want to make sectionals its own chapter so I'll try to update quickly and I hope you all enjoy this chapter. **

**Again I'm so so so sorry I took a while to update, writers block is a bitch. **

* * *

><p>Harmony sat in the front row of the choir room quietly gossiping about her day and McKinley to Sarah and Alice. If it was anyone other than the unitards she'd be worried about talking about it, for fear that either her or her father would get in trouble, but she knew everyone in the glee club cared about each other and wouldn't let that happen. She took extra time explaining her and Rory, which was what the girls were slightly more interested in than the affairs of their teacher. She along with the rest of the room went quiet as their coach walked in, slamming some papers down on his desk. He wore a smile that also looked serious, and she knew they were in for a lot of work.<p>

"Well it appears we've been slacking off a bit. I'm not blaming you all –I know most of it was my own fault, however that doesn't mean it's okay. I know we're better than any of the competition, but that doesn't mean we can get too cocky. We may kick everyone's asses at sectionals, but we still have to practice every day like we think we're going to lose. Now I'm not going to go crazy on you, I still want to be a coach you actually enjoy having. So, rehearsal will now run until 10:30. You'll get a few small breaks, but keep in mind before you start complaining that this is actually reasonable. Trust me, if you were in Vocal Adrenaline you wouldn't be getting home until 12 at the earliest." He clapped his hands together, "so any questions?"

Most of the room was stunned at first to hear their new schedule. Each student pondered the new times silently, each reaching the same conclusion that it was ultimately for the best. Harmony's hand instantly shot up. Jesse's eyes raised; he had expected her to understand his reasoning more than anyone, "Yes Miss St. Claire?"

She straightened her posture, highly resembling her mother, "Although all of us already know who it went to, you never actually posted who got the solo. As you can imagine, it'd be a little hard rehearsing for over 5 hours without knowing who's doing most of the singing."

He nodded, "well yes I'd imagine that'd be a little difficult. But as I recall you just said everyone already knows who it went to, so why would I even need to say it?" In most circumstances he wouldn't even think about saying things like this to another student, but Harmony reminded him so much of himself that he knew she could take it. She usually had a retort of her own, anyway.

Harmony shrugged, "maybe you wanted to surprise everyone." Jesse looked at his paper to scribble something down, "Only if that surprise would get us a victory, however you are our best chance at winning. So I'm assuming you know all the words to the song already."

She scoffed, "please. I'm pretty sure they were my first words." He let a small smile of admiration slip, "well then to the auditorium we go." The Unitards all filed out of the room towards the theater, Jesse falling behind the group to send a text to Rachel telling her to call him if anything bad happened. He didn't think this day was going to go easily for her.

* * *

><p>Rachel walked into school arm-in-arm with Kurt. He had called her the night before to ask if she wanted support, which she gratefully accepted. She didn't doubt she could handle her fellow glee clubbers, but it didn't hurt having Kurt with her.<p>

"Well Finn wasn't fuming this morning as much as last night, but I still don't think he's too happy about the whole situation, Tina and Quinn are fine, Artie's just happy he doesn't have to fight Rory anymore for Sugar, and obviously I'm completely on your team." He downgraded the whole situation, mainly Finn's anyway. His brother was still pretty upset, but that was probably because of the few bruises Kurt knew he'd gained yesterday fighting Jesse.

She nodded, "I don't think glee club will go too badly. I mean, I can handle it. It's not like you all are gonna try to kick me out again, I know for sure I'd have you, Quinn, and Kurt's votes. Maybe Puck's…"

Kurt smiled reassuringly, "everything's going to be fine. This is way different than last time. Jesse isn't going to hurt you, most of us realize he's no longer such a jerk, and we know how stupid it'd be to kick you out of New Directions." He nodded slightly, "although I could hit the notes perfectly," he glanced at her conveying a look that he was kidding, just in case she didn't understand, although she was already laughing by the time he did. "You actually could, though." She pointed out. He shrugged, "maybe, but that's not the point. Point is, glee club's going to be fine. You might just have to deal with a few glares from Finn."

Rachel nodded; she planned out how she was going to carefully avoid her ex-boyfriend. It seemed easier to just sit farther away from him than usual... maybe even avoid eye contact. She noticed a poster on the wall and gasped, "I almost forgot about elections! You aren't nervous are you? You'll do great, everyone in this school's going to be voting for you, I know it."

Kurt shrugged, "I'm actually not that nervous… maybe a little because I know how much everyone likes Brittany, but I have strong points and I'm standing by them." She nodded, "well now that West Side Story's over, it'll be my life mission that you win the election. This school needs you and your brilliance." He smiled, "I won't argue with you on that," he winked at her before having to head off to his own class while she went to hers.

Although she wouldn't want to admit it to anyone, Rachel had been trying her hardest to avoid Finn. She figured he'd have to have a bruise or two from yesterday, and not only physically but to his pride as well. Jesse always tended to strike a nerve with her ex, although he did the same to her current boyfriend. Neither of them really liked each other and she didn't think this whole situation made anything better.

She held her breath as she walked into the choir room. Tina and Quinn sat chatting idly about some new fashion tips they'd read in a magazine, Finn's eyes were practically burning her skin, but she tried to ignore him, Kurt and Blaine were acting adorable as always, and Artie was discussing music with Puck. She stiffly took a seat in-between Kurt and Quinn, awkwardly looking around trying to avoid meeting Finn's gaze. Out of the corner of her eye she could see him quietly fuming, and avoiding conversation seemed like the smartest thing to do.

Mr. Schue walked in and announced that they should start working on a set list for sectionals causing Rachel to roll her eyes, _finally. _This was their senior year and maybe she was the only one, but she wanted to win nationals this year. It was their last chance, and they _had _to. After everything she'd put up with for this club, it was about time it paid off with something other than slushee facials. She raised her hand immediately with loads of suggestions she'd already planned out since Nationals last year.

* * *

><p>Harmony walked into the Lima Bean and smiled, waving enthusiastically at her two friends sitting at a table in the corner. "Hey guys!" The two teens already seated returned her smile, "Hey Harmony!" As she took a seat next to Rory, he pecked her lips quickly and Sugar smiled, "well it took you two long enough, my god." A blush spread across the young couple's cheeks causing their friend to laugh which became contagious to all three.<p>

Their conversation drifted to school, but soon Harmony felt the need to ask how things were going with the real reason they were here, "so when do you think we'll be able to start heading home?"

Sugar shrugged, "I don't know… I still have to keep Finn from being the reason mom gets outed," Rory sighed, "yeah and Sebastian's still not giving up. It could be a while, Harmony." She rested her head on her hand. 2011 wasn't such a bad year to be in, but it defiantly wasn't a great one. She missed her city, friends, and her mother and father, with them actually knowing she was their daughter. "I think I'm leaving after sectionals," she blurted out.

Rory nodded and Sugar looked at her dumbfounded, "you can't leave so soon! I know you're going to feel bad since the troubletones are gonna kick ass at sectionals but that's no reason to ditch! We need you here!" The brunette shook her head, "I miss home too much. Plus my parents are fine now, as long as they make it to sectionals I know they'll last." Rory was working to hide the sadness in his voice; he didn't want Harmony to feel bad, "well we're certainly going to miss you." She sighed, "I'll miss you guys too, but it won't be that long."

Sugar rolled her eyes, "I still can't believe you're gonna bail." She sighed, "but whatever. You're just lucky that for some crazy reason I love you." Harmony chuckled, "love you too, Sugar." She directed the conversation back to meaningless chatter, hoping to leave the topic that she knew Sugar didn't approve of. Both of her friends seemed to enjoy the past for some reason; she certainly did not. It had its perks –she'd met some nice people, but it still wasn't home.

She looked out the window and noticed it was beginning to get darker outside, "shit I'm going to be late for rehearsals; dad's gonna kill me." She stood up and began walking away, "love you both!" with a final wave to the two of her friends, she was out the door.


	11. Chapter 11

**AN: I know, it's been like a month, but between writers block and being in Les Mis, it's a bit of a problem writing. I wish I could've given you all a super long chapter to make up for things but it's better that it ends where it did, at least I think so. **

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><p>Harmony attempted to sneak into rehearsals without her father catching on, which she should have known right off the bat was a lost cause.<p>

"Oh Miss St. Claire, how nice of you to join us," His voice bounced off the walls of the auditorium and she knew she was about to be chewed out. She opened her mouth to protest; hopefully make up some lie would soften the blow, but he quickly cut her off.

"You may have the solo, but that does not mean you can slack off. In fact, it means you should be practicing more. I know you think you're very talented, which you have a right to, but that kind of attitude isn't going to get you anywhere that matters. And I want you to remember that you can be replaced, I'm sure there are plenty of people in this glee club that would love to have your solo."

She stood still awaiting the remainder of her chastisement, but surprisingly it never came. "Well are you going to join us for rehearsal?" Harmony nodded and promptly ran up onto the stage to learn the choreography.

She was thankful that he didn't take away her solo for the competition, but she knew it was because no matter how angry he got at her, the solo would be hers. He cares far too much about sectionals to let them loose because she was late to a few rehearsals and wanted to "teach her a lesson". She laughed silently to herself thinking that was the exact kind of thing Will Schuester would do; yup she was defiantly a St. James.

* * *

><p>The next day, Rachel sat in glee club with Kurt while they awaited the rest of glee club to file in. She was trying to coax details about Kurt's date with Blaine from him.<p>

"So after Breadstix where did you guys go?" She looked at him eagerly, soaking up every detail.

Kurt chuckled, "calm down, calm down, I'm getting there. Well, after we ate we just started to walk around downtown. Hand-in-hand, I'd like to add. I was a little nervous about it, due to the whole dirty looks and such, but he assured me that he loved me and he could care less what the world thought of it." He sighed and shrugged his shoulders, "Then we saw a movie and he dropped me off at my place."

Rachel poked him in the side, "aaand?" He straightened himself a bit, "and what?" Although Kurt already knew what she was asking, he was getting enjoyment out of being difficult. He was answered with an eye roll, "Oh you know what. Did the two of you, you know, kiss?" She was smiling smugly, knowing fully that they had; the bright shade of red on Kurt's cheeks only confirming it. He shrugged, "you know I don't kiss and tell." She shook her head and laughed, "Well your face tells a different story."

Kurt crossed his arms, "well what about you, Miss Berry? Any dates with one Jesse St. James?" The smile on her face gave him an answer before she could. It was _that look. _He knew it perfectly well because it was the one he had after he had a date with Blaine. The '_oh my god he's so perfect is this real?' _look. It was a look he'd only ever seen with her twice before: prom and after a certain music store incident.

As Rachel was about to answer his question, Finn walked in staring at the pair. She quickly turned to Kurt, worried that Finn's eyes could set her on fire, "Yes, actually. I went to his place." Kurt's eyebrow shot up and Finn, even though she _thought _she had been speaking quietly, turned around quickly, "you _what?_" She crossed her arms, "firstly, I don't believe I was talking to you."

She turned her direction back towards Kurt, "and not like that! He told me to come over and that it was a surprise; I figured he'd just end up taking me somewhere. Once I got there, as soon as I walked in he had made dinner and everything. Since his parent's never really came to Ohio, they let him have the house, which is huge by the way, so we watched a few movies in their basement after dinner." She sighed with a soft smile on her face, "it was so sweet." Her smile turned into a frown almost instantly, "unfortunately that's probably going to be our last date for a while…"

Finn, although feeling a little defeated from being snapped at, perked up a bit hearing her final statement. Kurt immediately placed his hand on her arm sympathetically, "why?" She shook her head, "no, it's not like that." She smiled, "it's just because sectionals are coming up; he's coaching the unitards and I'll be singing a solo for New Directions, so both of us are going to be busy." Kurt nodded, happy to hear that nothing bad was going on and Finn slumped into his seat, frustrated that the news wasn't as good as he thought it would be.

During their conversation, the rest of New Directions had filed in, along with Mr. Schuester who entered moments after everyone. He clapped his hands together, "oh Kurt, you're wanted in Principal Figgins office." Kurt stood up slowly, his brow furrowed in confusion, "uh Mr. Schue did he tell you why?" The older man shook his head, "sorry, I'm just the messenger."

Rachel felt her heart stop; she knew, or at least had a strong feeling, as to why Kurt was getting called to the principal's office. She watched him walk out of the room, silently wishing she could yell at him to stop, and go straight to Figgins office herself. That was stupid though, she didn't even know for sure why he was called to the office. _It was probably something trivial_, she told herself.

* * *

><p>Harmony sat on her bed listening to her Adele playlist like she did whenever she was feeling melancholy. She hugged her knees tightly, the images of home creeping into her mind. A tear trickled down her cheek thinking about her last birthday when her mom and dad took her to see West Side Story, knowing that Maria was one of the roles Harmony wanted to be on Broadway one day.<p>

Hearing a sudden knock on her door, she jumped off her bed, quickly wiping the tears away. She threw a jacket on to hide the fact that she was still in her pajamas since she had already had her last class of the day and had a few hours until rehearsal.

Harmony opened the door, beyond surprised at the person standing on the other side of it, "Rory?" The word came out almost as quiet as a whisper, anything louder would've come out like a sob.

The boy immediately wrapped his arms around his girlfriend, who began to let herself cry. He slowly shut the door behind them, making sure it was quiet while he did so. He lightly stroked her hair, letting her simply take the moment that she needed.

After a minute or two of just standing there, they made their way over to sit on the edge of her bed. She sniffled, "so why did you come here?" Rory smiled and shrugged, "I've known you practically all my life Harmony, I think I'd know when you were upset." He placed his arm around her shoulders, "and what kind of boyfriend would I be if I didn't come to make sure you were okay?"

She laughed softly, resting her head on his shoulder, "well thank you." Rory turned to look at her, "you don't need to thank me, I care about you, Harmony. That's what people do for people they care about."

Harmony smiled softly, "is it crazy to think I'm falling in love with you?" Rory shook his head with a smile on his face, "I don't think it's that crazy." Their faces slowly drifted closer until their lips met in a soft kiss.

She didn't let him leave until she had to go to rehearsals, not that he minded. They sat on her bed, Harmony wrapped in his arms, staying silent most of the time, but talking occasionally.

* * *

><p>Rachel numbly walked down the hallway. The various people passing her, yelling out insults at her, gossiping with each other, even the occasional couple sucking each other's faces off, none of them even entered her psyche. Tears freely flowed down her face, as she silently made her way to glee club.<p>

After finding out the night before that Kurt was in fact called into Figgins office for stuffing ballots, Rachel knew the next day she'd have to go tell the truth. Now, because of that, she was mere seconds away from breaking the news to New Directions. She walked into the room, taking a deep breath. Mr. Schue turned to tell her to take a seat, but upon noticing her tears he abruptly stopped his speech about sectionals and asked her what was wrong.

She took a shaky breath, "I... I went to talk to Principal Figgins to… clear up some things." She began to choke up a bit, but told herself that she had to continue, "And I won't be able to compete in sectionals." After managing to get the words out, Rachel turned around and ran out of the choir room, not wanting to deal with everyone's responses.

She didn't notice sound of footsteps running after her, not until they followed her into the bathroom anyway. Rachel looked at the girl that had followed her through her watery eyes, "what do you want Quinn?"

The blonde ripped a paper towel off the roll, walking over to Rachel to dab the tears away, "to see if you're okay. Look, I know Sectionals means a lot to you. What'd you do anyway?" Rachel shrugged, "I stuffed the ballots for class president."

Quinn raised an eyebrow, causing a quick reply from Rachel, "not for myself, for Kurt. I dropped out, remember?" The blonde nodded, "yeah I know, that just sounds pretty ballsy for you. Not to mention stupid," she added giving Rachel a knowing glare, "but I know why you did it, and admittedly, I'm impressed."

She smiled, "well thanks, but unfortunately your admiration isn't going to put me back in sectionals." The other girl shook her head, "no, but that doesn't mean you'll miss regionals or nationals. Besides, if you're worried about the college thing, don't be. You're talented, Rachel. NYADA would be stupid not to accept you."

Rachel looked down at her hands, still not quite used to her and Quinn actually being friends, "thanks, Quinn." She looked up with a slight smile on her face, "I could help you win sectionals, you know. not that you aren't already a good singer, but there's always room for improvement."

Quinn nodded with a smile matching Rachel's, "only if you get Schuester to give me the solo."

The brunette smiled, "deal." She hugged the other girl tightly, thankful to have someone that she called a friend at school, other than Kurt and Blaine.

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><p><strong>AN: Well I hope you all liked it! Please review and such, because they make my day and who knows? maybe it'll help me update faster :)<strong>


	12. Chapter 12

Harmony had never been so exhausted in her life. While being the lead singer in her glee club in New York was difficult, she had never crashed on her bed from pure exhaustion. She did learn something during the hour long rehearsals: it was that she had a new found respect for her father knowing Shelby had been his coach. If Harmony knew anything about her father's choir directing skills, it was that he refused to be like Shelby. Sure he would push them harder than ever, but she knew the resentment he felt towards his former coach and mother-in-law, not that he knew she was his mother by marriage yet, would make him try his hardest to not turn into her.

She considered standing up in the small open space in her dorm room to practice her steps again, but after realizing even moving her arms hurt, she decided against it.

Then, because being in a place as safe as the academy doesn't require one to lock doors, her door burst open to reveal Brad. She rolled over and grunted, knowing he was going to want to do something.

He laughed, walking over to pull her up, "come on, you look worn out."

She glared at him, "if I look worn out shouldn't you be letting me sleep? How are you not worn out?"

He shrugged, "Coach St. James told us up-front that rehearsals were going to be hell near competitions. As much as I love our team, none of us were ready for that, so he decided to have hell rehearsals early. After all of us started getting better, he let us have a grace period."

Harmony nodded and pushed him out of her room, which caused him to go deadweight, "would you cut it out? I'm just trying to get you out so I can change," she spoke between laughter.

Brad stood up, raising an eyebrow, "promise?" She rolled her eyes and nodded, "promise."

Satisfied with her answer, he walked out of her dorm to wait for her. Harmony ran over to her closet, almost forgetting the soreness she felt. She was choosing to ignore the thoughts of how she would miss Brad and the rest of the Unitards when she went back. Part of her wondered if any of them would make it to New York; if she went to school with any of their kids. It was strange to think about, but it wouldn't surprise her.

After throwing on a black pair of jeans and navy button down shirt, she walked out of her dorm putting the glare back on her face as she stared at her friend, "happy, now?"

He laughed, taking her hand and spinning her around, "very much so. Now let's go!" She giggled; relieved to have a simple moment in the midst of rehearsals and heavy problems that come with getting your parents back together, which she had actually begun forgetting about because of the competition coming up. "But you never told me where we're going!"

Brad tugged her hand along to follow him, "Alice found this great karaoke bar near here and Jack _persuaded _the guys to let us leave for a few hours." Her eyes widened hearing what Jack had done. For a group of glee kids she was surprised how willing they were to break the rules. Thinking about it, Jack had actually reminded her of one of the guys she remembered her mother talking about from high school, Noah, maybe?

"But Brad, we aren't supposed to leave school at night... that's why they have the security guards." He shrugged in response, "nah the guards are just so people don't break in, plus there's nothing they won't do for a twenty." Harmony mumbled something about it being reassuring, earning a laugh from her friend.

The car ride to the karaoke place wasn't too long, and surprisingly they had never gotten caught for leaving. Well, surprising for her anyway; Brad just continued to laugh at her paranoia.

As they walked in, both teens waved to the rest of The Unitards sitting in a round booth facing the stage, but in the corner so they could actually hear each other.

Harmony smiled at Alice and Sarah, two of the girls she had gotten closer to since joining TU. Jack sat with Gavroche, trying to pick out a song for the guys to sing. Wanting to make sure he had a say in what he would be singing, Brad walked over to the other two guys to help pick a song; leaving Harmony to talk to the small redhead and Asian girl.

"Hey guys!" she spoke cheerfully and, surprisingly, it wasn't faked at all. This group of people genuinely made her happy.

Both girls greeted her happily, and the comfortable silence they fell into lasted all of two seconds, immediately being broken by Sarah, who although Harmony had believed to be quiet, turns out wasn't so much. "So you've been texting twenty-four seven, you blush when you do, you were late to rehearsals, and Alice _swears _she saw you kiss someone at West Side Story. Who is he?"

That was something Harmony was not expecting. She began to blush furiously, "oh I... I don't…" After realizing that lying would not help her at all, she decided to just explain everything. She'd only gotten to talk to Sugar about Rory, and even then it wasn't much because the both of them had become so busy. "His name is Rory. We've known each other since we were practically first-borns, our parents are really good friends. I've had this crush on him for… pretty much ever? We haven't gotten to go on any dates or anything, but he visited me the other day," she sighed remembering how perfect it all seemed, "we just sat and talked and it was wonderful."

Harmony hadn't realized how much she had spoken until she stopped and realized she was out of breath. Both girls responded to the rant by squealing with excitement, followed by Alice hugging her tightly, "That's so cute! We have to meet him! Although I would never doubt your taste in guys, he _must_ have my seal of approval."

She laughed, "Okay, okay, I promise I will introduce him to the two of you. But since clearly we're better singers than the guys are, I think we should show them up, don't you?" Both girls nodded eagerly, excited about the little competition about to break out.

Sarah looked across the table, "Hey Jack! Hand us the book, we have to kick your asses after you make fools of yourselves." He raised an eyebrow, "_You _are going to kick _our _asses? Nice try, Adams, but you know we're going to completely out-sing you." She rolled her eyes, "just hand over the songs, unless of course you're scared we'll win so you don't want to." to add to her point, she included a knowing smirk. Harmony began to wonder if Sarah and Jack were together, looking back at little instances she had previously ignored, she wouldn't be too shocked.

He gently tossed the large binder over to the three girls, "fine. I'm just trying to save you the embarrassment, but hey, it's up to you." The redhead stuck her tongue out at her boyfriend and flipped open the book.

"Okay, so got any ideas?" While the girls continued scanning through the book, they hardly noticed the guys getting on stage. Harmony turned her head as soon as she heard Brad's voice singing the opening line; she tried to hide the eye roll she wanted to do so badly.

_You're insecure, don't know what for_

She had never been a huge fan of boy bands, and in the year she was from, One Direction had become like 'N Sync. However seeing the guys dance around the stage, winking at random people along with performing dance moves she was sure should never be seen by human eyes, made her burst out into laughter along with the other two girls standing next to her. As Jack began his solo, he walked off the stage to take Sarah's hand and lead her to the stage.

_Baby you light up my world like nobody else,__  
><em>_The way that you flip your hair gets me overwhelmed,__  
><em>_But when you smile at the ground it ain't hard to tell_

He began twirling her around, which was considered dancing for the most part. Harmony was convinced it was the cutest thing she had ever seen. Alice leaned over to her, "they've been dating since middle school, before Jack became all tough-guy or whatever. She's the only one I've ever seen him be real around." Harmony smiled, thinking that although she may have known Rory longer, their story wasn't too different from Sarah and Jack's, except it was her that was only herself around him, rather than he being the one to be himself in front of the other.

After each guy cheesily bowed to the uproar of applause they received for their song, the girls quickly made their way on stage. After going between everything from Kelly Clarkson to the Spice Girls, they had finally settled on a Hey Monday song, that although had nothing to do with any of their lives, was one all of them knew they could easily sing better than the guys.

Naturally, Harmony had taken the first solo as she began to dance around the stage, similar to the guys.

_You, you hit with me a break_  
><em>And now you're back for more<em>  
><em>Your song's the same<em>  
><em>Leave me with all the blame<em>  
><em>I don't have time for another game<em>

Alice then came in with the first chorus, and although Harmony had known she was a good singer, she hadn't known _how _good until now.

_I don't wanna dance  
>So don't you ask me, babe<br>I don't wanna dance  
>You blew your chance<br>To rock my night away _

The three girls sang the rest of the chorus as a whole, followed by Sarah completely breaking out into the second voice. _Yeah, _Harmony thought, _she defiantly is not quiet. _The redhead began doing dance moves that she could only dream about doing. Sarah reminded her a little of Mrs. Pierce, which was beginning to creep her out since this was the second person to remind her of someone in her mother's glee club.

After the girls finished their song, receiving the same uproar of claps and hollers the guys did, each did an overly-dramatic curtsey and walked back over to the booth.

Alice smirked, "well I'd say we may have done some ass kicking." For the first time since the guys had sung, Gavroche spoke, "au contraire miss Alice, I do believe we were the ones doing the ass kicking." he motioned towards him and the other two guys. Harmony scoffed, which received a look of disbelief from Brad, "what? Alice is right. We totally kicked ass." She looked around for Sarah and Jack, finally spotting them bent over the binder of songs. Alice, as if reading everyone's train of thought, spoke aloud, "looks like the love birds are going to perform for us."

They watched as the couple entered the stage for the second time, each standing at the two separate microphones. Harmony raised her eyebrows hearing Sarah explain they were doing a Ingrid Michaelson song. She vaguely remembered the woman's music from her mother's playlists, but was never one to listen to her often.

_Well don't you worry, there my honey  
>we might not have any money<br>but we've got our love to pay the bills_

As Sarah continued to sing, Harmony was astounded that there was so much talent in the Unitards other than herself. She was actually pretty confident that they'd be able to take Nationals without her, assuming everything goes according to plan. Hearing the couple on stage perform was making her want to sing again, and Brad, who sensed her need, walked over to sit next to her so he could lean over and speak quietly, "you wanna do a song?"

Harmony nodded and suddenly formulated an idea, which brought a huge smirk to her face, "Yeah, but it's getting a bit sappy in here, isn't it?"

He raised an eyebrow, but soon began laughing as she whispered her song idea to him. It was completely unexpected, but he knew it'd be fun. They quickly worked out how they would break up the song, and practically ran on stage after giving their friends a hug for doing such an amazing job.

Harmony introduced herself and Brad to the audience, also informing them the name of the song before the music began to start.

_(Bold: Brad, Underlined: Both, Everything Else: Harmony)_

_**I'm at a payphone trying to call home  
>All of my change I spent on you<br>Where have the times gone  
>Baby it's all wrong, where are the plans we made for two?<br>**_  
><em><strong>Yeah, I, I know it's hard to remember<br>The people we used to be  
>It's even harder to picture<br>That you're not here next to me  
>You say it's too late to make it<br>But is it too late to try?  
>And in our time that you wasted<br>All of our bridges burned down**_

_I've wasted my nights_  
><em>You turned out the lights<em>  
><em>Now I'm paralyzed<em>  
><em>Still stuck in that time when we called it love<em>  
><em>But even the sun sets in paradise<em>

_**I'm at a payphone trying to call home  
>All of my change I spent on you<br>Where have the times gone  
>Baby it's all wrong, where are the plans we made for two?<strong>_

_If happy ever after did exist  
>I would still be holding you like this<br>All those fairytales are full of shit  
>One more stupid love song I'll be sick<em>

_You turned your back on tomorrow_  
><em>Cause you forgot yesterday<em>  
><em>I gave you my love to borrow<em>  
><em>But just gave it away<em>  
><em>You can't expect me to be fine<em>  
><em>I don't expect you to care<em>  
><em>I know I've said it before<em>  
><em>But all of our bridges burned down<em>

_I've wasted my nights_  
><em>You turned out the lights<em>  
><em>Now I'm paralyzed<em>  
><em>Still stuck in that time when we called it love<em>  
><em>But even the sun sets in paradise<em>

_**I'm at a payphone trying to call home  
><strong>**All of my change I spent on you  
><strong>**Where have the times gone  
><strong>**Baby it's all wrong, where are the plans we made for two?**_

_If happy ever after did exist  
>I would still be holding you like this<br>All those fairytales are full of shit  
>One more stupid love song I'll be sick<em>

_**Now I'm at a payphone...**_

They immediately hugged each other, ignoring the loud applause they were receiving. With the exception of Rory, Harmony had never had many guy friends, but Brad had been her first friend here; he was the closest thing to a brother she had.

As they walked back to the table, receiving congratulations from their friends and even a few strangers, Harmony immediately flocked to Alice, wondering if she would do a song. The other girl nodded, a small smile spread on her face. "I'll admit I'm a bit nervous, though."

Harmony scoffed, "nonsense, you're a beautiful singer; everyone will be amazed at your talent." She gave Alice a soft shove towards the stage, "give 'em hell."

Alice looked back to give Harmony a smile, then made her way on the stage, meekly whispering her song choice to the man running the karaoke station.

The first few notes of Poker Face came out the speakers and Harmony immediately nodded in approval. Having Kurt Hummel as a godfather meant she was practically _raised_ on Gaga; not that she was complaining, Lady Gaga was a complete inspiration to her.

Earlier when she had told Alice that everyone would be amazed at her talent, she didn't realize how truthfully she was speaking. For at least the second time that night she had realized there was more talent in The Unitards than she previously thought.

As soon as the song ended with the audience bursting into applause, Alice had practically left the stage running. She sat down in the booth, sinking slightly; her cheeks red as roses. Harmony raised an eyebrow, "have fun?"

She laughed and nodded, "surprisingly, yes. It's just a little nerve-racking being up there by yourself." The group fell into meaningless chatter, watching the performers that ranged from good to completely wasted.

After what felt like it was only a few minutes, Jack looked at his watch to reveal it had been a few hours, "as much as I'd condone staying out all night, Mr. St. James will _murder _us if we're tired tomorrow…" Before Harmony could say that she was pretty sure they had already past the point of being tired tomorrow, it seemed like he had read her thoughts, "don't worry, I'll pick us up some redbull's," adding a wink for good measure.

Once she had finally returned to her dorm room, Harmony flopped onto her bed, lazily swatting her alarm clock until she knew it was turned on so she could go to bed. Not even bothering to get up and change, she curled up into the soft sheets, quickly falling asleep. She knew she'd be worn out tomorrow, but she had had so much fun that night that she couldn't find a reason to care.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: hope you all liked it! <strong>

**In case you were wondering,**

**Guys song: What Makes You Beautiful, One Direction**

**Girls song: I Don't Wanna Dance, Hey Monday**

**Sarah & Jack: You and I, Ingrid Michealson**

**Harmony & Brad: Payphone, Maroon 5 (I left out the rap part in the fic) **


	13. Chapter 13

**AN: Sectionals, and admissions, and kisses, oh my!**

* * *

><p>Rachel's eyes opened slowly as the bass to Adele's 'Rumor Has It' began to flood her room. Somewhere on the internet she had read that waking up to music, rather than the siren she called an alarm clock, made people's days better; not to mention reduces stress, which was something she definitely needed to work on.<p>

Normally she would have hopped right out of bed, carrying on with the rest of her morning schedule, especially since, had she never stuffed the ballots, today _would_ be a performance day. Yet she had managed to mess that up –while trying to do something nice, mind you, however it had been against school rules. So, this morning, she had woken up in a more melancholy state than she could ever remember being in since what seemed like ages ago.

After practically dragging herself to the shower, not bothering to work out, and doing half of what was usually her face routine Kurt had taught her, she carefully searched through her closet, wanting to make sure nothing would give away her true feelings on today's situation. Yes, she was upset about not getting to be in Sectionals, but could she show it? Absolutely not.

All throughout her sophomore year, some of junior year, and even bits of this year, she had been called selfish countless times; about half of that time, she could actually understand where they were coming from. This happened to be one of those times where she knew if she acted too sad, she would be told she was acting selfish, and this time it wouldn't be that far off.

Her team was going to perform and kick ass, so shouldn't she be happy? The simple task sounded easier than it was. She was Rachel Berry, after all. Performing was practically her flesh and blood, and being denied that? It was like telling a fish they aren't allowed to swim.

So one new outfit, a dash of makeup, and a quick check to make sure her showface was intact later, she headed down the stairs to a typical Berry family morning.

Her dad, Hiram Berry, walked around the kitchen making breakfast for himself and his daughter, Leroy Berry, otherwise known as daddy to her, was nowhere to be seen. Rachel looked around curiously to see where he had gone, but her father quickly ended her curiosity, "he's got a huge case right now and he had to go in early. He sends you his love."

She smiled and sat down on a stool next to the island in their kitchen, "morning dad." Unconsciously, her smile drifted back to a frown as she began to zone out thinking about tonight.

Hiram, noticing his daughters unusual quietness, placed a glass of orange juice on the table while taking a seat across from her, "honey are you okay?"

Although automatically she wanted to scream no and crawl back into bed for a few more hours, she repainted the smile on her face and nodded her head, "Yeah, I'm fine, why wouldn't I be?"

Both knew the answer to the question, and both knew that the other did, but neither was willing to state it aloud, knowing what would happen if they did. "Oh you know I just worry about you too much, but only cause I love you," he replied with a sigh.

Rachel smiled and got up from her seat, "I know you do." she kissed her father on the cheek and began to leave for school, calling out over her shoulder, "I'll see you after the competition!"

Hiram sighed and cleaned up the kitchen after his daughter had left. He did worry about her; he had good reason too right now. Although he knew she was too selfless to admit it, she couldn't bare seeing her friends having the time of their lives on the stage while she sat and watched.

* * *

><p>Harmony's morning, quite unlike her mothers, was filled with pure excitement from the moment she woke up. This would be her first glee club competition in Lima. Sure, she had been in a few at her school in New York, but this was far different. Now she would be performing in front of her mother, father, and all of her parents friends; not that they knew that they were related to her of course. They all, most likely, thought she was just a crazy version of Rachel which, to be fair, was basically true; the woman had raised her, after all.<p>

She bounced around her dorm room, going from outfit to outfit until she found the perfect one. She was going to be seeing her boyfriend later, even though he'd probably see her in costume first, and she wanted to look nice.

She practically flew down the stairs on the way to the dining hall for breakfast, where she knew she was going to meet up with some, if not all, of the unitards. According to Brad they had a tradition of always eating Breakfast together on a competition day, since it was the only time the whole dining hall wasn't full and noisy; only half the student body actually ate breakfast, and those who did were too tired to bother being loud.

Before she could even make it all the way into the door, a few members of the unitards were already waving at her from their seats at the table; she had a feeling she wasn't the only one to be overly excited.

After grabbing an apple and bottle of water for breakfast, her nerves always killed whatever appetite she had, she took a seat in-between Alice and Brad.

Jack, whose arm was currently around Sarah's shoulders, was the first to speak to her, "You nervous?" The question was simple, and although she knew everyone probably felt the same way, she was still the new kid, to the unitards anyway, and this was going to be her first competition; not to mention she was singing lead. Harmony nodded, "a bit."

Brad gave her a wide grin that automatically managed to calm some of the butterflies in her stomach, "what? You have _nothing_ to worry about. Gaining you and Coach St. James has been the best thing to happen for the unitards. Our glee club was nothing until he came along and decided to make it something; now that we've got your voice this competition is in the bag."

She laughed at his obvious attempt to make her feel better, although she could tell he fully believed what he was saying, "Well thank you. Although obviously, none of it would have been possible without you guys." Her eyes began to get misty and she silently cursed her mother for giving her the sappy gene, "you're some of the best friends a girl could ask for, and I am _so _glad I met you all."

What made things worse was the very thing none of them knew except for her –after sectionals she probably wasn't coming back. In her room sat all of her clothes packed nicely into a suitcase, along with a note she left for Brad, Sarah, Alice, and Jack, because without them, she had a feeling she wouldn't have been able to make it through this adventure of reuniting her parents.

Harmony knew that she couldn't tell them why she was really here, or why she was really leaving, but she wondered about telling her parents. No doubt it would be strange, and the question remained of would they even believe her? She had a strong feeling that without tons of evidence and random knowledge that only a Berry/St. James would know, they wouldn't, and she wasn't sure if she did.

Alice immediately wrapped her arms around her friend, "Hey you're not so bad yourself, but oh my god, please don't cry, because then I'll start crying along with everyone else. Trust me; you do not want to see Jack cry." she added, causing everyone around the table to laugh and Jack immediately replying with an 'I heard that'.

After what seemed like hours of meaningless chatter that managed to make Harmony more reluctant to leave, the bell rang signaling the beginning of the day. With all the excitement she felt over tonight, she couldn't help but worry this was going to be a long school day, not to mention her last.

* * *

><p>Rachel continued to walk from class to class almost numbly; a smile plastered on her face, yet her eyes telling a completely different story. Not that anyone here would look into her eyes and actually note the sadness; there was only one person that would, or even could, do that, and he was currently in a city not too far from here, but certainly not close enough to her.<p>

The first to talk to her was Kurt, who simply talked to her about some new fashion thing he had read in a magazine last night. Shortly following was Blaine, who simply confessed his apologies about her not being able to sing with them, and that he wished there was something he could do. Lastly was Finn, who stopped her in the hallway, using her small size to his advantage by not letting her pass by until he finally finished trying to ask her out, which, not surprisingly, was met with a firm 'I have a boyfriend' before she walked away to her next class.

Finally as lunch rolled around, she took advantage of her senior status and quickly drove away from school, wanting to be somewhere she could be alone. She found it awfully ironic that a few years ago, all she ever wanted was to be surrounded by friends and people who loved her, and now, all she wanted was to be alone. Not always alone; she did appreciate her friends and all they did for her, she thought they did, anyway, just a few moments every once in a while to just be alone and think.

Between dating Finn, being the lead in a musical, and being co-captain of glee club, alone time wasn't something she had often. Even now she lacked it, even though now she was only still continuing one of the three things that had been keeping her busy.

She pulled into the parking lot of a small vegan café Jesse had taken her to the first time they had started dating. Even though that particular point in the relationship didn't end well, and for the longest time she questioned if any of it was real, most of the memories with him were just happy. There wasn't a single memory that she had from their dates that made her unhappy. They had laughed, sung, talked about their futures; two of the three happening often in the café she was now making her way into.

Rachel wondered why she was feeling so sentimental today, but a sudden text from Tina reminding everyone that glee club practice was for sure in the auditorium today, reminded her why; she was always the kind of person to get sentimental when sad, and now that it felt like ages since she had last spoken to her boyfriend, their old relationship was turning into the object of her sentimentality.

She was about to dial his number when a familiar brunette walked in the door to the café, along with a blonde guy who she vaguely remembered seeing once or twice before, but she couldn't recall learning his name.

Rachel waved, motioning for the two to come sit with her. Although she might have left McKinley to get alone, it seemed that the wish only really applied to people at McKinley. "Hey, Harmony! I don't think I've seen you since West Side Story!"

Harmony quickly hugged her mother, followed by a quick introduction between Brad and Rachel. She hoped that Rachel understood she wasn't cheating on Rory with Brad, but based off the non-judgmental looks shared and the lengths Harmony had gone to to prove that she was in fact in love with Rory, she figured the older girl understood.

They continued getting to know each other, well mostly Rachel and Brad did, since the two already knew Harmony and vice versa. Eventually, because when three teenagers that all happen to be in the same competition on the same night are talking it tends to come up in conversation, they began to discuss tonight's competition.

Rachel, still not completely wanting to give away that she wouldn't actually be competing, directed conversation from herself onto Harmony, "so –first sectionals competition in Lima, are you excited?"

"Excited, nervous, and every feeling in-between." she replied, answering truthfully with a laugh and nervous smile.

The older brunette simply shook her head, "don't worry about a thing. I remember when I used to get nervous." It took a lot of will for Rachel to not start cracking up at how she sounded like Jesse the first time she had met him. "Just remember that you're phenomenal, and no one can stop you from doing anything."

Harmony smiled gratefully and Brad laughed explaining how he had told her something similar earlier. Although whenever her mother tried to give her advice she had usually shaken it off, mostly because Finn was in the loft and it was hard taking her mother seriously when she was dating him, Harmony had found herself missing moments like that. Even though Rachel wasn't giving her "motherly" advice per se, it still felt like it, and it was reminding her of everything she had left back home. _You'll be there soon enough, Harmony, _she continued repeating to herself.

After more of Rachel successfully managing to not explain how she won't be singing tonight, she finally said goodbye to both Harmony and Brad, wishing the both of them good luck tonight. Looking at the time on her phone she realized she was going to either be right on time or late for glee club, not that it really mattered, but drifting back to her thoughts from that morning, she didn't want anyone considering her to be selfish.

* * *

><p>"Five, Six, Seven, Eight!" Mr. Schue's voice rang through the auditorium as he gave the signal for the New Directions to begin their number.<p>

Rachel walked in watching the entire scene unfold; although it made her sad to say so, they seemed to be doing fine without her. She had the feeling they'd have a hard time winning something as big as Nationals without her, but for Sectionals it started to seem that she wasn't even needed.

She prepared to turn around and walk back out of the auditorium, but stopped hearing Mr. Schue call out her name. No one on stage could hear it over the music, but since she was only a few feet away from him, she had.

"Yes, Mr. Schue?" She asked the question innocently, worried she was about to be scolded for being late, or attempting to leave; either one wouldn't have shocked her.

"You're ten minutes late, and now you're about to leave? Look, Rachel, I know you're sad about not being able to compete, but really, I'd hope you'd have more team spirit than that." he replied.

His answer made her blood boil; team spirit? What was this a basket ball team? She knew that maybe it was rude to show up late and then turn around to leave, but what did they need her for anyway? She wasn't singing, she had already given Quinn a few vocal lessons/tips, what was there left for her to do? Sit in one of the chairs with a 'Team New Directions' shirt on? She had already done that for one person in the glee club, and God only knows what she was thinking then.

However, instead of going full-on diva mode, she gave him an apologetic smile, "I'm sorry, I ran into someone when going out to lunch and I lost track of time; I was only leaving because I wasn't sure that you'd need me."

Her response earned an exasperated sigh, which, coming from Mr. Schue, meant she was off the hook. "Actually we do need you; I was hoping you would sit with me and look for anything you think could be improved. Kind of like what Jesse did when he was helping out with us last year."

Rachel found it funny how cautiously he had said Jesse's name, even though he knew that the two were dating now. She supposed it was only because most of New Directions still weren't fond of him, and Mr. Schue didn't want to cause any trouble. She nodded, "okay, well I think they're about to perform the second part of the number so I'll just start watching from there."

Mr. Schue took his seat, followed by Rachel taking the one next to him; to say she felt awkward would have been an understatement. Although she had tried to focus on the performance at hand, especially since she was beyond proud of the progress she and Quinn made, Mr. Schue continued to try and make conversation.

"So how are the two of you doing?" He shifted in his seat and cleared his throat, "you and Jesse, I mean."

Rachel resisted the urge to roll her eyes at how bad he was at bringing up topics like that; not to mention the fact that he even would. _Must be trying to learn how to talk to us from Ms. Pillsbury, _she thought to herself. "We're fine; I haven't talked to him recently because both of us are devoted to our separate show choirs, but we're an inevitability." A smile ghosted her lips at the word; although he used it to describe her singing 'Don't Cry for Me, Argentina' in front of a sold-out crowd, she believed it to be true for the both of them as a couple as well.

Will furrowed his eyebrows, not being able to understand how she could be so sure of a relationship this young, "Rachel, you do know you're eighteen, right? Relationships are going to come and go."

She sighed at his attempt to give advice; there was no way he could possibly understand. He married his high school sweetheart and look how that worked out. She knew it was Terri that had been the crazy one, but obviously he wouldn't understand how she felt about Jesse at eighteen; not to mention Mr. Schue didn't exactly seem to be very good at relationships. She was happy for him and Ms. Pillsbury, but it seemed like their journey of getting together was mostly stalled because of him.

"Yet this is our third time going for it; no matter what we're going to find each other, Mr. Schue. We're far too dramatic to settle down normally; we'll fight, we'll make up, and eventually we'll both be Broadway stars, sweeping the Tony's every year." She shrugged, "and maybe we'll get married, but believe me that's _far _into the future."

Her teacher looked at her with disbelief, before letting out a sigh of defeat, "just make sure you're not rushing into anything. You've got your whole future ahead of you; I'd hate to see you settle."

This actually did cause her to laugh; she felt bad about it later, but at the time the statement was just so funny to her. "Mr. Schue, you honestly think _Jesse_ of all people would let me settle?" She shook her head and looked back at New Directions, where Finn was getting about half of the dance moves right; she wondered what her life would be like in a few years if she had stayed with him instead of leaving him for Jesse. "I know you didn't know him that long, but trust me; he certainly would never let me forget my dreams for a guy, even if that guy was him."

Mr. Schue nodded, deciding that nothing he could say would change her mind about her current relationship. Although he didn't understand it, he did admire her firm belief in her and Jesse. He even began to wonder if she was right; that they would end up getting married some day. Knowing that the conversation was ending with that, he looked ahead at his kids on stage, only talking to Rachel whenever he wanted her input for something.

Although neither of them would say it out loud for fear of jinxing it, both had the feeling that New Directions could actually win this thing.

* * *

><p>Harmony took a deep breath as she climbed onto the bus all of the Unitards were taking to McKinley high for sectionals. Since the school was fairly nice, the bus was one of those fancy ones, not a simple yellow one; it wasn't a range rover for each of them like Vocal Adrenaline, but it was still nicer than what she knew her mom dealt with.<p>

Sarah sat next to her, giving her all kinds of reassurances, even though Harmony wasn't sure if she was saying them to her or to herself. Everyone on the bus seemed to be nervous and excited, just like she was.

After a bus ride full of singing, laughing, and a small attempt at a pep talk from Jesse, they arrived at McKinley, ready for their first competition all together.

They followed their Coach through the hallways to where they were to wait until it was time to sing, since they would be going first. After explaining to everyone else that it was in fact a good thing that they were first, since you either want to be first or last, they all sat around talking until Brad pulled Harmony to the side.

"What's wrong?" He asked calmly, yet she could detect worry in his voice; how he had managed to tell she felt sad through her bright smile she had no idea.

Harmony shook her head and automatically tried to deny the fact that anything was wrong, but he cut her off, knowing they had little time to talk before they were to be on stage and he wanted to make her feel better about whatever it was that was making her sad. "Don't even bother telling me you're okay; you're my best friend, I can tell when you're upset."

She looked down with a sigh; why did he have to be so good at reading people? "I… I talked to my parents and I think after tonight I might be leaving." Brad putting his arms around her threw her off at first, but she welcomed the embrace full heartedly. Making sure not to cry so her makeup wouldn't smudge before having to perform, she sighed deeply, it would suffice for crying, for now anyway, "I'm really going to miss you guys."

"We're going to miss you too, but that's why we have phones and computers and stuff." He replied with a soft laugh, trying to make the two of them feel better since he was going to miss her just as much as she would miss him. With a sniff and nod, Harmony smiled, "yeah, you're right." she didn't have the heart to tell him they wouldn't be able to keep contact. Besides, how could she tell him? 'Hey actually we can't because I'm going back to the future' didn't seem like a good idea to say. She vaguely remembered putting somewhere in her letter to them that her parents were deciding to take away all her technology for some green-thing, or maybe she said something about witness protection… Either way, at the moment she couldn't think of an excuse.

Jesse walked into the room, giving a quick smile to his team and informing them they needed to be on stage in five and that they were going to kick ass.

Taking their cue, they all made their way to the stage and held their breath waiting for the lights to begin to shine on them.

* * *

><p>"Oh my God, it's the Gerber baby." Rachel heard Kurt whisper just loud enough for her to hear. She knew the unitards were going to be competing, but apparently no one else did, although no one else really knew them except for Kurt.<p>

After freaking out that Harmony was singing _her _song, she realized Jesse must have picked it around the time she had seen him again, after all, knowing him he'd want to have the sectionals songs picked out as soon as possible; she couldn't decide whether to feel honored or annoyed, but since it was Jesse, she knew he had only done it while thinking about her.

Her thoughts ended there seeing Quinn run out of the auditorium; whatever happened she knew it wasn't good.

* * *

><p>"<em>I know what you're going to do."<em>

Jesse sighed out of relief finally hearing Rachel's voice; he had been looking around for her, even though he probably should be watching The Unitards. He walked towards where he heard her talking to someone, but realizing it was something important, he waited behind a few lockers.

"_I'm an adult; I can do what I want." _

Looking down the hallway slightly, still keeping himself hidden, he noticed Quinn Fabray standing hand-on-hips ready to go into full-on bitch mode, at least it seemed like it. He had no idea what had happened, all he could tell was that Rachel was trying to get her to not tell Figgins about something.

Jesse wondered when Rachel and Quinn had become friends; he hated that he hadn't known either. He cursed the way he always got so caught up in competitions he never bothered to remember anything else existed. Not that he had forgotten Rachel, _like that was even possible_, but by the time he would even have had to chance to call her or see her it'd be far too late, or he had to be at work.

He also began to question why Rachel wasn't dressed like Quinn. Almost always everyone's costumes were the same, or very close to similar; even if she was singing a solo, it was very rare that Schuester would put her in a different dress. Noticing Quinn had gone to take her place on stage, Jesse took his chance and ran after Rachel.

"Hey I don't know which I should do first –apologize exceedingly or ask why you aren't in costume." He began with an amused smile, but noticing the initial flash of sadness on Rachel's face at his observation about her clothing, he hugged her tightly and kissed the top of her head. "Well let me start out by saying I am an idiot for getting too caught up in my showchoir team and not calling you at all. Clearly there were a few times I should have been there for you and I wasn't. I am however, here now. I know it doesn't make up for everything, but just tell me what happened."

She wondered if she should be mad at him. Although he almost immediately began apologizing, she wasn't that upset. She knew he usually got highly involved in showchoir; it was, after all, one of the things they shared in common, and yet another thing she loved about him.

For the first time she finally let it show; the sadness she felt over not being able to compete. Because, at the end of the day, Jesse was one of the few people she could tell everything and have them understand. She loved her fathers, but they were no longer in high school, and they were never as deeply involved with performing as she is; she loved Kurt, and although they shared many traits, he didn't understand her the way Jesse did, either.

Her eyes began to sting and she felt a familiar warm streak running down her cheek; she didn't bother to wipe away any of the tears; she just buried her face slightly into Jesse's chest. Although her voice was muffled, it managed to be audible. "I was just trying to help Kurt; I mean it wasn't like I was smoking or cheating, well cheating on a test anyway, just trying to innocently help a friend since the whole thing is just a popularity test."

Although he still wasn't quite sure what she meant, he simply hugged her tighter and gently stroked her hair. He quietly shushed her and began to whisper that everything would be okay.

Rachel leaned back just enough so she could look at him, yet continue to be in his arms. "I missed you, Jesse." A look of pure regret due to the fact he hadn't been there for her flashed in his eyes before he masked it with a soft smile, "I missed you too, Rach."

She sighed, "I was a little vague wasn't I?" He chuckled and gave her a nod, "although I usually pride myself in being able to understand you, I must admit that one was a little too cryptic for me."

Rachel laughed softly and looked down, "I stuffed the ballots for Kurt; he deserved to be president. The only reason Brittany got it was because she sang 'Run The World (Girls)' and everyone at this school practically thrives off sex." This caused Jesse to immediately raise his eyebrows, which made Rachel slap his arm playfully, "oh shut up."

He chuckled, but stayed quiet to allow her to finish her explanation as to why her voice wasn't the one leading New Directions to victory. "Anyway, I may have over-stuffed them a bit, so Figgins found out and thought Kurt did it; I couldn't let him take the blame for something he didn't do. So, I went to Figgins, told him what I did, and he told me I wasn't allowed to compete in Sectionals. I almost got a suspension but I practically begged him not to, and I suppose he felt sorry for me."

Jesse gently tucked a stray piece of her hair behind her ear, "Personally, what I think you did was completely justified, and Figgins is an idiot."

The couple was too wrapped up in each other to notice the loud cheer coming from the auditorium near them for the New Directions who, had in fact, won the competition. Luckily for the two, no one was supposed to leave through this hallway.

Harmony, however, was on a mission to find her parents. Everything _should _be going perfectly right now; suddenly seeing them in the hallway, she paused and smiled softly. _According to plan, _she thought to herself happily.

She was about to turn around and leave, but decided she wanted to tell her parents goodbye beforehand. She had realized that telling them who they really were to her could cause serious damage, at least in the movies it did. All she wanted to do was thank them for everything, and explain how she was having to leave so soon.

Not wanting to interrupt, she waited, ironically in the same place her father did just earlier that evening, until they would begin to walk back towards the auditorium, where she would "accidentally" bump into them.

Finn Hudson, however, did not want to grant the couple the favor. Harmony heard a voice call out "St. James!" Causing her come out from her spot and begin walking angrily down the hallway, straight towards the man she honestly disliked more than anyone.

"You! Every single time they get together you just _have _to screw it up! First you had to be the "hero" after the egging, then you had to be the "hero" at prom, you obviously feel the need to do it now, and last but not least you're part of the reason a happy marriage ended, and let me tell you, I am so sick of you and the pedestal you and everyone else puts you on." At the end of her monologue with hatred literally dripping out of every word she said, she had finally made it face to face with him. He may have her beaten when it comes to height, but the girl knew a few things, and how to slap the shit out of someone was one of them. As soon as she finished the last word, her hand came in sharp contact with Finn's cheek, a loud smack carrying through the hallway.

She hadn't even realized everything she had said to him; it was all just pouring out. Everything she had ever wanted to yell at him was coming out and she knew half of the things she said she wasn't supposed to know. She crossed her arms and stared at him angrily, "now stay the fuck away from my parents." That was the biggest thing she wished she could take back. Unfortunately, she didn't think Sugar would let her take the car about two minutes back in time. Plus, the slap was something she'd wanted to do for a while; she wasn't sure if she'd even want to go back.

Finn almost said something, but turned around and walked away fuming. Harmony turned around, rather impressed with herself, but froze seeing the utter confusion on Rachel's face, and impressed look Jesse had. She quickly tried to explain herself, but nothing came out; there was nothing left she could do but explain the truth, if they would even hear it.

Jesse, being the first to recover from the exchange, spoke slowly, "your parents? Harmony none of us have ever met your parents, at least I'm assuming. I highly doubt Finn would really go after cougars, as I recall that's more of Puckerman's thing."

Harmony took in a deep breath, "well actually… he has met my parents, along with everyone in New Directions." Rachel furrowed her eyebrows, "Harmony, I haven't even known you that long, let alone your parents." Well _so much for only saying goodbye_, Harmony thought to herself. She pointed towards a classroom with the door cracked, _thank god one of these is unlocked. _"Can we go in the classroom? This is going to take a lot of explaining."

* * *

><p>"So… I'm your dad?" Jesse stared at Harmony, still trying to comprehend the girl's story. Rachel, however, sat in her seat repeating the same three words over and over with the occasional 'oh my god' thrown in, "she is crazy. Oh my god, she is crazy."<p>

Harmony sighed; this was the exact reason she didn't want to tell them. Her mother was _never _going to believe it. "I'm not crazy; I know I sound like it, but give me a minute to prove it."

Both people sitting across from her went silent, urging her to go on. "Well I can start off by pointing out what I said earlier; How would I know about what happened at prom? and the egging?"

Rachel shrugged, ever the analytical thinker, "anyone could have told you that. I mean, you are dating Rory."

"But he wasn't here for either of those events," she pointed out.

"Still, anyone could have told you about that," the older girl said quickly. This was going to come down to straight up evidence; just as Harmony had suspected.

"Well I could also point out my mention of mother always telling me people deserve 'epic romance' even though I swear she stole the line from dad?" She casted a look between her mother and father.

Jesse looked at Rachel, "hey you are not stealing credit for my epic romance!"

Rachel looked at him with her mouth wide open in complete disbelief, "Don't encourage her!" Her mind was beginning to waver though; the other girl was beginning to have a point. Sure she could have gotten the egging and prom information from anywhere, but epic romance? Rachel had never told anyone about that; not to mention the anger that was in Harmony when she saw Finn. No one was that good of an actress, and considering Finn had never met Harmony before a few weeks ago, there obviously couldn't have been a past.

Harmony laughed softly at her parents, and also at the fact that she happened to remember the kicker. "There's also hard core evidence that you're wearing right now."

Rachel looked down at her clothes instantly confused; her eyes returned to the younger brunette, "Okay now that I don't understand."

It was Jesse's turn now to laugh; there was a reason Harmony always considered herself to be closer to her father, "Rach, your necklace."

"What about it?" she questioned.

"Well this girl claiming to be our daughter has the exact same one." he replied, pointing towards Harmony.

Rachel shrugged, "how can that be hard core evidence? You could get that anywhere."

Harmony immediately took the necklace off and placed it on the table, "if you look at the other side of the star there's an inscription of the initials RBB. When I was little I would always try it on, so when I turned thirteen you gave it to me as a good luck charm, since that same year I was auditioning for my first important production. It wasn't Broadway or even Off-Broadway, but it was still a production not at my school."

Rachel quickly grabbed the necklace off the table, almost throwing it back seeing the back of it; it was there. The exact same inscription. At this point she could still try to argue that the girl was crazy, but there was even a chip in the necklace in the exact same spot as the one Rachel had on.

"If you're my daughter, you'll know the answer to a few questions then. Questions you wouldn't have been able to simply google or ask around to get the answer for." She crossed her arms; this was the final test. If Harmony aced it, no matter how weird it was going to be, she would believe her, "what's the first movie I made you watch?" Rachel already knew everything she wanted to do if she ever had a daughter, at least most of it.

Harmony smiled, "that's easy, Beauty and the Beast, because it's your favorite Disney movie and I was too young to understand Funny Girl."

"So I guess I shouldn't bother to ask you the first musical you watched then?" she asked with an amused smile.

The younger girl shook her head, "you can, although it's fairly obvious."

Jesse quickly cut in before Rachel could ask another question, "What did we do whenever Rachel wasn't home?"

Harmony laughed, "Listened to Queen. You literally raised me on it."

He began laughing and looked towards Rachel, "See? I told you if I ever had a kid they'd be raised on Queen."

Rachel shook her head, "I cannot believe you played Queen when I wasn't home! You could have at least played Barbra!" Harmony smiled noticing that now they were starting to take what she was saying seriously; well somewhat, anyway.

Jesse rolled his eyes in a completely joking manner, "oh I'm sure she got enough Barbra from you Miss Rachel _Barbra _Berry." He glanced towards Harmony, "or should I say St. James?"

After a few more questions, Rachel and Jesse both fully accepted what Harmony had told them. It took some getting used to, but they managed to do it. Rachel continued to beg Harmony for information on her future career, but Harmony kept refusing for fear it would mess it up. All in all, she was actually glad she had told them.

* * *

><p>Harmony stood in front of the car that had brought her here, suitcase in one hand, Rory's in the other. She was sad to be leaving, especially since she was leaving behind people she knew she would probably never see again, although she hoped she would. Knowing what she was going home to though, made it all worth it.<p>

"Are you sure you have to go?" he asked her sadly.

She nodded, "I love you, but I really miss home. And now that my parents know who I am, I can't really stick around."

Rory sighed, "I'm going to miss you, Harmony." After placing her suitcase on the ground and giving him a final kiss goodbye before having to leave, she smiled, "I'm going to miss you, too."

She threw her suitcase in the backseat and hopped into the driver's seat, refusing to let Sugar drive, even though the girl would have to drive herself back.

With a loud thud, the car parked right outside of the building Harmony lived in. It was early in the morning, and Harmony imagined that her parents would be making breakfast by now, assuming they were together again. She stayed in her seat, scared to leave the car for fear that everything she had done had gone to waste.

Sugar finally nudged Harmony's arm, "Go. If your parents aren't back together after everything you did it's just not going to happen. However judging by the look on Finn's face when he went back to the dressing room after the competition, I'd say he won't be bothering your mom and dad anymore."

Harmony turned towards her best friend, well that was a girl anyway, "Thanks, Sugar. I'm going to miss you."

Sugar rolled her eyes, although she was smiling, "I know, I know. But don't start getting sappy cause then I'm going to get sappy."

Both girls got out of the car to give each other a hug and switch places. Sugar put on her sunglasses, looking yet again like she was in Grease, and got into the driver's seat. With a final wave goodbye to each other, the car blasted off and Harmony walked through the door of the building, slowly making her way to the elevator.

_Remember that no matter what happens, your parents love each other. They will always love each other. Maybe you'll just have to get them together in this year rather than the past; if they aren't together, that is. _She thought to herself continually as the elevator continued going up and up to their loft.

With a final deep breath, Harmony slowly opened the door to home.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Pretty sure that's the longest chapter I've ever written... ever. I hope it didn't drag on! <strong>

**It's still not the end, though! So don't give up on me just yet ;)**

**Also for the person who reviewed asking about if Blaine/Kurt & Santana/Brittany are divorced as well. I never actually say what happened to them in this story since I know it'd be unrealistic for **_**all **_**of them to be getting divorced. I wish I could tell you what happened to them, but in all honesty, I don't know.  
>All I can tell you is that something did, hence why Sugar and Rory went to the past as well. <strong>


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